Word for the Day ... Frustration!

I know, I know, I know ... optimism is the key word in real estate. The market is always great to buy and sell real estate; but, when dealing with banks on short sales, frustration is what happens.

The largest problem every real estate agent encounters in their day to day business is the lack of control we have over all the factors and people involved in a transaction. If it's a local escrow company or mortgage company that you work with on a regular basis and you know they do their job ... and they occasionally mess up, you can yell and scream and remind them of how much work you send their way, and they'll promise to never do it again and everyone's happy. (Or at least you're happier that you were allowed to vent your frustration.)

Now comes the wonderful world of short sales and, when we thought we had a least a little control, we now have none, zip, zilch, nada. I've had short sales in contract for six months or more, and still no decisions from the underlying lenders. They have so many people and systems in the loop, I've lost track. First you submit it, it gets logged in and you wait for it to be assigned to a negotiator. That can take weeks. Then you finally get your negotiator and they have to have you update all the paperwork because by now everything is months old. So you do all that and, should they forget to mention one item they need or you didn't quite fill something out correctly ... do they call you to tell you? NO! You call them weekly to start, (it becomes daily toward the end) leave a message and wait for a return call. Or you e-mail them weekly to start and get a reply? Not very often. And, when you finally get in touch it's, oh, so sorry, we need another bank statement or hardship letter or HUD statement. Aaarrrrggggghhhh.

Now you finally get a "preliminary" approval ... if your Seller will pay a little money or if your Buyer will raise the price, etc., etc. because another agent or appraiser went out and gave them a Broker Price Opinion or appraisal that doesn't match the numbers. So, it's back to the Buyers and Sellers to see if we can meet their requirements ... more addendums to a contract that is probably so out of date now it's growing whiskers. And, now that you return the addendums to the bank, you get to stand in line again so the "Investor" can review the contract and decide if it's up to their standards.

And, what about the Buyers who have been hanging in there prior to the April 30th deadline to close by June 30th so they can get their tax credit? If you don't have Final Approval from the bank by now and already ordered an appraisal, they are no doubt out of luck. Unless, by some miracle, congress decides to take pity on the poor home buyers who are stuck in this goo and extend the closing deadline.

My heart bleeds for the Buyers and Sellers stuck in this mess. It seems to me, if the banks would streamline their approval process and make decisions sooner, maybe they wouldn't be so backed up that they can't get on top of their paperwork. Just an opinion from a lowly old Real Estate Broker that's been around a long, long, long, long time.