There's a saying that if you want to know where lines of ants are coming from, you've got to watch the ants. Because of all the rain we've received in Sacramento over the past 48 hours, I presently have an ant invasion in our bedroom. They are crawling up from the baseboards and down from the window sill. I've sprayed them with Windex, planted Grant's Ants stakes both inside the house and outside, but they keep coming. My cats are fascinated by the ants.
The solution here is to find the caulking gun, load it up and go to the source.
Yesterday, the source came to Lyon Real Estate. The manager of Wachovia's Sacramento short sales department did a presentation at my Midtown office. She's pretty much a one-woman show at Wachovia and handles all of its short sales.
I've been battling the intake department at Wachovia on 2 of my short sale listings for longer than should have been necessary. What should have been easy process was not. One file had been submitted in August, 3 times, but was never acknowledged. The other was submitted early September and is presently under review. The manager gave me her card and suggested that I email her with this information.
I wondered how the Wachovia short sales manager could handle the vast volume of files all by herself. She actually meets with each homeowner and assesses both the property and the homeowner's qualifications during this meeting, rendering a decision on the spot. She must be organized. I have had agents ask me how I can possibly handle the volume of short sales that I do, and it's because I'm organized. As a Sacramento short sale agent, I have systems in place.
After the meeting, I emailed the manager and attached the executed offer and HUD-1 on each of my 2 Wachovia straggler short sales. She responded immediately. We'll probably receive a decision on one short sale by the end of the month; she submitted the other and I'm meeting the Wachovia short sales manager at the property on Tuesday for an evaluation.
Instant communication from the source! It doesn't get any better than this. I would love to do even more short sales with Wachovia. In fact, I'm putting out an open invitation to all Sacramento short sale sellers with a Wachovia loan to call me. Wachovia is the gold standard for short sales.
Now, I've got to stop typing and go look for my caulking gun. Those ants are NOT going to win this battle.
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Certified HAFA Specialist
My Sacramento Real Estate Listings
Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available at Amazon.com.
Lyon Real Estate is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender. Even if you accept this offer and use our service, your lender may not agree to change your loan.
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The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.
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Great reminder to go to the source -- and how nice that your Wachovia negotiator made herself available. They're usually "man behind the curtain" because no one sees the great and powerful Oz.
As for the ants, if the caulk doesn't work, there's a great little product called Terro that we use when spring rains bring them knocking at our door. Here's a link: http://www.terro.com/
Happy hunting!
Elizabeth: This meeting sounds like a hallucination. With banks dropping the ball left and right, it seems too good to be true that a bank short sale manager would be so proactive. This is great!
Hi, Elizabeth:
A solution of vinegar sponged on countertops will deter ants. They don't like vinegar. I don't know if you want to put it on your walls, though.
Boric acid powder would work, too. Cruel but effective, and as long as your kitties don't breathe a lot in or eat it, nontoxic.
Cheers,
Robin
WOW, on the spot decisions. She sounds wonderful. Good luck with the ants... they were in my mailbox at the office yesterday.
Yeah, I am bowled over by Wachovia. That bank makes my job so much more pleasant, and its short sales manager is incredibly efficient. I wish all banks would take a look at how Wachovia handles its short sales and follow suit.
Like the ants that continue to follow each other up my walls. But the caulking is finished.
Elizabeth, it's good you network to find great people resources for your Short Sales. Good luck with the ants!!
Elizabeth, I have yet to have a Wachovia short sale but have heard they are awesome to work with. My favorite right now is GMAC. They also slam them out. I submitted a package yesterday and had the BPO today!!! Now if we could just get BofA and Chase on board my life would be easier.
Getting to the right person is the key to success. Good Luck.
One of my clients visited a NACA event in Las Vegas and all the major lenders were there. My client got a couple business cards of managers in the loss prevention and short sale departments. I suggest we agents should attend the next get together in San Francisco as it proves to be a good resource.
The rep for One West Bank did a loan mod for my client on the spot.
I am very impressed with NACA when I heard about them last year so I included a link to them on my website. Now, seeing what they do first hand, I would recommend them to everyone.
Congrats on your success in securing a contact.
Hey Broker Bryant: GMAC is my all-time favorite second short sale lender, too. Just closed 2 of them and got approval on those in fewer than 30 days.
Hi Satar: Guess I'll have to Google NACA for the next event. I'm not big on conventions but they do have pluses.
Elizabeth - What a great connection to have! When we dealt with Wachovia foreclosures we always had very hands on Asset Managers that visited all of the properties too. Now everything on the Foreclosure end is being run through Wells Fargo and PAS.
A Sacramento Short sale seller would be silly to go anywhere else!