We had another Jacksonville short sale closing yesterday and helped another Jacksonville seller avoid foreclosure.
We had listed the property originally and the sellers decided to go for a loan modification instead. We withdrew the home from the market. Indymac, which is now One West Bank, proceeded towards foreclosure and obtained a foreclosure judgment in Duval County while their negotiator was sitting on the loss mitigation file.
Once the sellers were within a couple weeks of the foreclosure sale they contacted us for a last ditch effort to try to accomplish a short sale and avoid foreclosure. They were told that Indymac would NOT cancel or delay the foreclosure sale for a potential loan modification. The sellers were told by Indymac the only way they would cancel the sale was if they had a short sale contract.
We put the home back on the market and quickly got an offer. The sellers and buyers came to terms on the short sale and everyone signed off on the contract. We sent in a complete financial package along with a property package. Around two days before the foreclosure sale we got Indymac to cancel the sale. Indymac won't cancel until the sale date is looming.
On this file it took us a long time to even get a negotiator...much longer than on our other Indymac experiences. Turns out that we got a brand new negotiator who had been someone's assistant and was newly promoted. The file had been assigned to one of the negotiators she had previously assisted, and she carried it with her to her new position.
Once the BPO came back we were shocked! Our contract was for $180,000 for an oceanfront condo complex in Jacksonville Beach. The negotiator came back and told us we needed to redo the contract for $255,000!!! This was clearly a faulty BPO done by a real estate agent who either did not understand the area or erroneously reported the value hoping that if the short sale failed, they would pick up the REO (foreclosure) listing for the lender.
We immediately kicked it into high gear. I researched for hours and obtained as much comparable data as I could on prior sales. I investigated the competition to see how everything compared and then I prepared a formal detailed challenge to the BPO. The BPO was clearly and inarguably WRONG and we had to prove that to the negotiator at the bank or the short sale would die. We knew there would be no way to get a contract on the property that high.
Roughly ten days later we got great news! The new BPO had come in at only $165,000. Then, to our astonishment, the negotiator insisted that we reduce our contract price to $165,000. This was $90,000 less than her first mandate to increase the contract price. The lender was requiring no seller contribution for the short sale. Freddie was also agreeing to pay the condo association lien and all past due condo association dues.
So after a couple of months of hard work and waiting...we were progressing towards closing. We breezed through inspections.
Then we got some crazy news a couple of weeks ago. The 2 bedroom/2 bathroom townhouse style condo had only appraised for $130,000!!! This appraisal was just as erroneous as the first BPO (that came in almost DOUBLE this appraisal) was. The lienholder, Freddie Mac (and American taxpayers), would have been harmed greatly had we pushed the appraised price and tried to obtain a new approval for the unrealistically low price.
Our sellers decided to hold their ground on the price and not return to Indymac /One West Bank/ Freddie to try to lower the price. We were getting a large number of calls on the condo still with people questioning the status. We had a couple of cash buyers who were waiting to hear of a contract fallout so they could purchase the home for the $165,000 amount, which is what our approval was for.
On Monday of this week we got word that the buyer had found someone to lend him the money to make up the appraisal difference and purchase the condo. The buyer's bank sanctioned this deal with the additional cash input.
By Wednesday we closed. The buyer got a fabulous deal on a great condo in an oceanfront complex. The seller was able to complete their Jacksonville Beach short sale and very narrowly avoided a foreclosure.
Jacksonville short sales are not easy transactions. They require far more work and strategy than a normal Jacksonville real estate transaction. Be sure your real estate professional knows how to complete a short sale before listing your Jacksonville short sale. All short sales will not be successful, however, a knowledgeable, experienced agent greatly increases your odds of success.
I have read your article. This must be a good news. It was so informative.Such a good article what you have written.Thanks for sharing your information with us.
Deirdre G
Posted by: makati condo | January 31, 2010 at 05:54 PM