When first posted this included a doctored photo at the bottom of a Down’s Syndrome child. I am making this comment here at the top so the reader comments below will still make sense. For the record, NO amount of threats or disagreements – legal or otherwise, have ever gotten me to change so much as a comma in any other post I have ever done. I am making a special exception in this case because my only targets in this post were senior executives (and their lawyers) running Bank of America’s loss mitigation division handling short sales. Not in any way an innocent child.
Bank of America is to be Highly Commended for their complete willingness to give so many intellectually challenged people jobs as executives. Sure, year in – year out, most other banks have always been willing to hire a few people who couldn’t think straight. But those other banks aren’t getting any awards for what they did for one simple reason: what they did was so darn common. Now any buzz kill who cares to can go look and find some other division of Bank of America / Countrywide that isn’t being run totally by retards (for example, their REO loss mitigation department).
But I challenge anyone to find any other bank that even comes close to Bank of America / Countrywide’s short sale loss mitigation departments for non-stop, over the top policies and procedures that make life difficult, impossible or at least a lot less profitable for the following four groups (not listed in their order of importance and there may well be others).
- All agents – either on the buyer or seller side
- All potential buyers of any property where B of A holds a 1st lien position
- All of the sellers (their borrowers) trying to work with them to avoid foreclosure
- Themselves.
If B of A is in a 2nd lien position, oddly enough they have workable policies in place (seller IS going to sign a note prior to close to pay the bank a small part of what they owe). They don’t flex on this issue but it is a knowable and not completely unfair rule. If they are in 1st lien position their standard and unvarying behavior (if that behavior were being attributed to an individual person) is nothing short of psychotic or completely retarded – at least down at the imbecile level. No rational judgement, no possibility at all of dealing with them the same way we deal with all the other banks on short sales.
Other than limited personal – and for the most part, completely anecdotal data, most agents doing short sales on the buy or the sell side have a very odd picture of the overall scene. Loads and loads of mostly worthless gibberish. Notice how Chase and Wells Fargo are grouped in the same category as Bank of America? Wells does not ever pay any of the buyer’s closing costs and won’t pay for a home warranty. But ….. you can routinely close an escrow from start to finish with Wells in about 30 days. Actually close, it takes less then two weeks to get an approval. Same with Chase. Try that with B of A / Countrywide (who collectively have about half of all problem loans in the U.S.) It takes a minimum of 90 days to get any response back from B of A. And if you send them anything after submitting the original package (anything, even a better offer) that 90 day clock is reset. So, with B of A four to five months to actually close a transaction is not uncommon.
It gets better. Here is a charming response we received from B of A a month or so back:
“Bank of America is now requiring most sellers to contribute to the loss in order to qualify for a short sale. Please prepare your client for that probability and be ready to let me know how much cash the seller can bring to closing. If no cash is available, the alternative is a promissory note for a larger portion of the loss. this requirement is firm–no contribution from the seller will result in the short sale being declined. There are vary few exemption made to this. The approval time once the file has been submitted will depend on the size of the loss, the investor and the MI insurer, if any.”
Arizona is one of ten states that have “anti-deficiency protection” due to the nature of how foreclosure works here – it takes only 90 days from the time the lender files for a Trustee’s Sale for them to take the house back. Therefore, the anti-deficiency protection (very basic rules – there are others: The same purchase money loan is still on the property, e.g., they never took any money out of the house via a refi and it was a residential property of 2.5 acres or less).
The response from B of A above was on a transaction where our seller would have no possible liability of any kind if the bank were to foreclose. None. In this case there was precisely nothing they could legally do to go after him and yet, even after being told this and being asked to please verify it with their legal department, they were not willing to budge – forcing the seller to let them foreclose. They get a house back that they really don’t want for many reasons, a neighborhood winds up with an abandoned home that will invariably sell for less money after the bank gets it back and so it goes.
It is as though a complete division of Bank of America executives went looking and anything they found that could slow down the process, make it more difficult for everybody involved or simply thwart the actual goal completely – they carefully noted what that was and then adopted it as firm policy. I’m impressed.
Newport Beach Homes for sale
September 1, 2009 at 7:14 am
Nice post.It is very interesting to read American short sale division.Thanks for sharing such a nice information.
sasha
May 20, 2010 at 4:16 pm
yes…really really retarded. I can go on & on abt them. I’ll boycott BoA for the rest of my life. I already closed my ckeckin n savings with them after staying with them for 9yrs. morons! No system whatsoever. It takes 3hours to get anyone on the phone in SS, only to hear they wont talk to me coz I’m the co-borrower. Idiots! ” Either you have a new rule this morning, or 99other cs I talked to doesnt know abt this”. He replies, ” it is possible that many of my colleagues do not know about this, but we always had this policy that we cannot talk to the co-borrowers”….Right ! I had to use my salary to qualify for a loan, sign tons of documents while getting the loan and for loan mod. My credit is screwed for non-payment, but I’m not authorised to call them about my loan, while 100 others had talked to me for the last 3years while I first tried loanmod then now shortsale. All BoA executives are going to hell.
John Kalinowski
September 1, 2009 at 7:18 am
Pure insanity. The other problem we’re having is in dealing with listing agents who have no clue how to handle a short sale offer, or are purposely gaming the system in every way possible.
Richard Marino
April 13, 2010 at 4:24 pm
I successfully completed a short sale with Bank of America. It was a 3 year ordeal. I had used a loss mitigation company in Utah and a realtor in Kissimmee, FL. In August 2007 we submitted our first offer which was with Countrywide, prior to BofA taking them over. What a mess. The loan was sold to Countrywide about 8 months after I had gotten it. I was ready and willing to bring $40K to the table on top of the offer of $265K for the property. The market was declining rapidly at this point in Florida. The bank refused to wave a prepayment penalty and took many weeks to respond to the request. Considering the loan was current and the amount owed at the time was $269K, I thought this was a reasonable request considering that I just lost 70% of my income as of July 2007. Eventually they declined the offer. Again, I found a buyer willing to pay $265K in December 2007. Three months passed, the bank did not respond to the offer and the buyer walked. They found a home that was just as nice but for 30K less. The offers continued, but now I could no longer pay for the home and now went into default. Over the course of the next 2 years, the realtor would not renew to sell my home, I fired the Loss Mitigation company and had to start all over again. Inevitably, I had 6 more offers and sat for months on each and every one of them. Some took six months without a response. The new Loss Mitigation company was no better than the first one, but the realtor was far better and constantly returned my calls, and as one contract fell apart he got another offer within a week or two. Meanwhile the amount I owed kept piling up and the bank placed the homeowners insurance on the house and it was $4,300 as compared to the $800 I was paying prior for better coverage. The bank was putting the screws to me and I did not know what to do. Finally I got fed up and sent out a mass email to the Board of Directors, one of which actually reached the head of BofA. He put someone on it and finally after speaking with this person, things started to move along. But because of all the delays, the homes value had plummeted to $140K putting me on the hook for a substantial difference. With interest and penalties, back taxes, insurance, homeowner association fees I was way under water, owing over $315K. Well, the home finally after two postponements of the foreclosure sale and was finally short sold. I did have to sign a Promissory Note for $25K+ over 15 years at 0% interest. I don’t know that this is over, and will be sweating it out for a long time to come. I don’t know if the bank will pursue me for additional money someday. Quite honestly, had the bank did the deal in August 2007 or then again in December of 2007, instead of losing a prepayment penalty, the number ballooned to about $180K+. If they forgive the amount and send out a 1099-C, I am concerned witht the tax consequences considering it should never have gotten to this point. BofA and Countrywide just was too shortsighted and because they played hardball, they created an unnecessary situation. Hopefully the government will agree with me when I contest the difference if I receive the 1099-C. I am wondering if I can sue the bank. Prior to buying the house I begged out with the bank and they threatened me with all kinds of legal problems so I caved and went through with the purchase. Biggest mistake I ever made.
Brad Officer
September 1, 2009 at 7:44 am
I’m dealing with the same BOA short sale hell in Florida. It’s as if they put a list together of rules and policies with the pure intention of extending the time, difficulty, and frustration levels of everyone involved.
Nashville Grant
March 1, 2010 at 5:55 pm
I think it would be safe to add the following short sale and loss mitigation departments to the list:
Wells Fargo
SunTrust Bank
Regions Bank
All of the above have either killed deals, wasted immense time with lost paperwork or employ folks who have been turned down by the admission office of the University of Phoenix.
Don Egnor
July 22, 2010 at 8:11 am
Much agreed Nashville…Wells Fargo has been putting my family through the wringer for over 2 years trying to do a loan mod on our primary and a short sale on another home through them.
I would like to try and sue the personally or start a class action against the way they handle these things.
MIssy Caulk
September 1, 2009 at 8:46 am
Unfortunately I have to agree, Russell. We just had one approved that our buyers had been waiting on 128 days with BofA the only loan on the house.
Michigan is a deficiency judgement state and it was right there in the letter, they would pursue a deficiency judgement.
Not our seller and I can only hope the listing agent explained it to her seller, who is moving out of the country.
Barry Cunningham
September 1, 2009 at 9:00 am
I think John’s comment above was the perfect punctuation on this post. There is substantial incompetence on both sides of the ball which makes for a really crappy game. Neither the banks nor realtors were prepared to take the field on short sales and here we are two years into this and most of the banks and most of the realtors STILL can’t get it right.
Nonetheless it’s still a profitable arena. Gotta love capitalism!
Jonathan Benya
September 1, 2009 at 9:27 am
Jeez, I wish this post wasn’t so spot on! I just dealt with 12 weeks of negotiation with them on a short sale, and they were only holding the 1st, which wasn’t short! Because the 2nd (held by chase) was short, they all had to agree, and the deal fell apart because BOA couldn’t sign off in a timely fashion. Thanks for nothing BOA!
Carrie Isaac
September 1, 2009 at 9:55 am
While I understand the sentiment of this post, those of us with siblings and friends who have Down Syndrome don’t really appreciate your using a picture of a person with Downs as an illustration of Bank of America’s short sale policy! People with Down Syndrome would quite likely have a less retarded policy than B of A’s. 🙂
Benn Rosales
September 1, 2009 at 11:02 am
Carrie, it’s a tough call here on this one, it was sharp to me at first as well, and I’m pretty sure it would be a step up for boa to be nearly as cool as that kid.
Bad Russell, Bad! (but point well made)
Dumb and dumber with Jim Carey comes to mind when I read this post and Barry’s comment.
Joe Loomer
September 1, 2009 at 12:13 pm
BOA doesn’t only mess up the short sale end. They hold a significant portion of all the VA repo’s in our area, and routinely screw them up as well – requiring financed buyers to qualify with them first or no deal. Then they’ll offer the Buyer the option (if they qualify) of assuming the foreclosed veteran’s loan (which may be a great deal), but won’t do any repairs. Soooo they send the appraiser out. Appraiser finds a couple of “subject to’s” – but BOA won’t fix it, back to square one….
Navy Chief, Navy Pride
Matthew Hardy
September 1, 2009 at 1:39 pm
From the thesaurus:
retard – verb |ri?tärd
“the process is retarded by bureaucratic red tape delay, slow down, slow up, hold back, hold up, set back, postpone, put back, detain, decelerate; hinder, hamper, obstruct, inhibit, impede, check, restrain, restrict, trammel.”
Sounds like BOFA to me.
Russell Shaw
September 1, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Carrie (and anyone else),
Thank you for such an elegant and tasteful method of pointing out my apparent insensitivity on this issue. I did not intend to make fun of or make less of anyone with Down syndrome. I can see how I wound up doing that – no matter if that was my intention or not. Many are dealt cards that they must then play regardless of if that was the game they intended. My target here was only B of A and I sincerely apologize if I crossed the line in my choice of photos to combine with the altered B of A logo. It won’t happen again.
robert punturi
February 9, 2010 at 6:42 pm
Have you contacted the local television station about your experiences with B of A I have a current short sale with them and would love to tell my story
gladys
February 12, 2010 at 7:16 pm
Hello Robert:
I’m going through a short sale in Miami with BOA. I have the approval letter but no details on how the investor will proceed with the deficiency judgment. I have sent emails to the negotiator(s) kindly requesting a release/waiver/note/document that the short sale payoff will be full/final and complete for my loan debt. So far, the only email I have from them: “The language deficiency can not be removed from the approval letter. Please advise either to close the file or continue w/ the short sale”
I’m expecting this coming Tuesday to talk to the supervisor. Could you please tell me how is your short sale going? Could you share with me your experience w/ them. I will highly appreciate your input.
Thank you.
Carrie Isaac
September 1, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Russell, thanks for the response! I know you didn’t specifically mean to make fun of anyone with Down syndrome. I just know that many parents are deeply sensitive to the fact that a disorder that neither they nor their child can do anything about is used to illustrate a point of someone acting in an irrational, senseless way.
Keep on writing!
Bob
September 1, 2009 at 3:37 pm
A few things to keep in mind when dealing with BofA/Countrywide:
* The approval letter stating they will seek a deficiency “unless prohibited by law or otherwise agreed to in writing” is now used across the board in all 50 states.
* The deficiency policy is a “NO EXCEPTIONS” policy (if you get one, you did well).
* BofA puts the onus on the debtor to prove that they are not liable for any deficiency. They know few will sue, as most can’t afford counsel, and they know most lawyers will not do this on contingency.
* DO NOT ASSUME that a financial contribution eliminates the deficiency. GET IT IN WRITING! Citi frequently wants a 10% contribution, but will provide a full release if you push.
* The seller is looked at as “debtor”, not seller.
* If there is MI, then they or the investor they are servicing generally net more from the MI company if it goes to sale.
* CW has three centers for s/s – Simi Valley, Chandler and Plano. If it goes to Plano, figure you have less than 50/50 chance of getting the file approved vs the other two.
* Instead of incentivizing their negotiators, BofA/CW take a punitive approach.
* CW had an “aging” policy where the goal was all s/s to close in 90 days. It was a noble idea, but because of the punitive vs incentive based approached, it had unintended consequences.
If its apparent that the file wont close in time, the negotiator, with the blessing of the manager, can kill the file. and delete it from the database so there is no record of it’s failure.
* If you or your client employs an attorney to run interference, submit the package, or merely to verify status with the lender, the odds move a bit more in your direction.
* Understand that when you or I submit a financial package to a lender, it is frequently (re: whenever possible) used later for debt collection purposes. If an attorney submits the package with a cover letter stating the parameters with which the lender can use the info, your client now has a bit more leverage on how their financial info is used by the lender.
Never assume that that the bank doesn’t understand what they are doing. The knucklehead you are dealing with frequently is just following orders – orders dictated by attorneys designed to help the bank down the road.
* Expect to see these banks sit on these files and go after the deficiencies when the economy turns and people start to recover. Think of it as annuities for the banks.
Christine Torres
February 14, 2010 at 3:42 am
I have done a few short sales and currently have 2 S/S lisitngs. I HATE dealing with B of A FOr reasons of keeping my sanity, I use a SS Specialist. I pay 20% ref fee to at closing. SHe does the package the negotiating and explains the process to the seller.
I learned much more reading your post. Thank you for taking the time. I would like to cut and send it to my collegues in my office.
Thanks again,
Christine
Maria
April 15, 2010 at 11:42 am
Hi,
We had a case in which the short sale was for a 200K cash deal. The house was in the suburbs with a 2nd. lien at $50K, 1st. lien $238K. the 2nd. lien took $5K and the first $195K.
Before the closing the 1st. lien sent documentation for the seller to sign in which they said they MAY pursue the deficiency in the future. We called and told them our client could not sign without wording saying that “the deficiency is forgiven or the debt is considered fully satisfied”. They informed us that this were the exact papers everyone in the US in our situation is supposed to sign, that we should not worry because we would get a 1099.
BUT WHAT KIND OF 1099?
At the closing table our client was thinking about signing to get the whole thing over with. We talked to the Title Company and placed a call back to the bank telling them that the seller wanted a document that could release him of the deficiency or there was no closing.
They were annoyed that they had to involve their law department, but guess what happened next… the document was faxed and we recieved the release of debt form.
It is so true that there are a lot of inexperienced or uncaring agents who would leave everything to lawyers who barely know the process with ALL the banks. Our lawyer was saying our chances were almost null that they would go for it. I am not saying that we should wear their shoes, but we should do due diligence in terms of protecting our clients interests and understand or at least read what the banks want from our clients.
We are not fully understanding of the 1099 yet, we know that depending on the boxes and wether they are “A” or “C” and how they marked the forms after the closing they will or wll not pursue the debt in the future. But as a short sale trainer told us 3 years ago. If that unique form (Release of debt or whatever other names it has) is missing in the closing papers, chances are excellent that a whole industry will be developed after the market stabilizes and all of us will have collectors and lawyers after us. That unique form will save a lot of our clients from a new hell.
Trace
September 1, 2009 at 6:42 pm
First thought: B of A, wow. Enough said. Second thought: Beautiful dialogue between Russell and Carrie on a sensitive topic.
Ken Brand
September 1, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Uggg. The reality of too big to fail, too big to care, too big to change.
Such a moral crime! Bail out the big business, crush the common citizen.
Swing for fences and lend like drug dealers deal.
Fail like the Titanic.
Have tax payers and BofA home loan customers bail you out to the tune of $120BILLION.
When loan customers (who bailed you out) have problems, don’t assist them, nail them to cross, stone them, drown them in financial rip-currents and chains of red tape.
It’s criminal. Period. To make things worse, there’s even less competition for these clowns than ever before, we can count on their oligopoly to empower the continued abuse of borrowers.
Sal Antsipenka
September 1, 2009 at 9:07 pm
All actions of the Bank of America and Countrywide and many other lenders/banks are intentional, becaues the easiest way of ruining a deal or burying it under the table is to play dumb by being anally serious. It is a scary thought that individuals who run our country’s financial and by the way political system brush a huge bunch of other people aside just because they think they are too annoying with their needs and should be put on hold.
Leo
September 1, 2009 at 9:36 pm
I agree 100% with you. They are retards from the 1st observation, however I think they are planning something…as far as future collection attempt.
In most cases seller are better off to take the foreclosure hit. It’s not the end of the world.
I’m doing my last 2 countrywide short sales. I just can’t justify making money and putting sellers in a possibly much wors situation that they need to be.
BawldGuy
September 2, 2009 at 11:59 pm
I did my first real estate deal with B/A back in 1972 or so if memory serves. My client was a freakin’ B/A employee for Heaven’s sake, and still they turned a simple employee loan to buy a home into E=MC².
I vowed then, and have kept to it, never to do real estate business with them again. In hindsight, a pretty good call for a 20 year old. 🙂
Bob
September 3, 2009 at 11:57 am
Jeff – I had two similar situations in the 90’s. One buyer was in management, the other was the sister of a bank manager. Both had tried to go via the branch and it was a mess. I took them through their res lending dept and got them done in 2 weeks. Right hand not knowing there is a left hand.
To their credit, my first home loan in 1994 was a BofA 3.5% no neg 1 year arm. Of course it was mandated by the Feds after they were found guilty of red lining, but it was a sweet deal.
Jim Gatos
September 4, 2009 at 7:39 am
Every time I talk to a prospective seller, the very minute they tell me it’s Bank of America/Countrywide … I “cringe”…
They do go through, don’t get me wrong. However, they are SO hard to work with, and I just don’t get it. Are they trying to hurt themselves? There is NO real good reason for their mostly over the top asinine behavior and unbelievable policies. They should be THE LEADERS in “short sales made simple”.. instead they are everyone’s nightmare..
Thanks for the article, Russell. I am forwarding this article to anyone who has a hard time believing what I’ve been telling them about BOA/Countrywide, ’cause frankly, sometimes I can’t believe it myself.. Here is the nation’s #1 home lender (maybe not now)… First, they helped a lot of people GET homes; now they’re helping a lot of people LOSE them…
Brad Officer
September 5, 2009 at 8:36 am
Based on the irritation level of everyone, this is clearly a problem with BOA. As big as they are, they alone can stint our progress in the housing recovery.
Tony Agent
September 8, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Do not agree with the photo of the boy. Shouldn’t be there.
TOTALLY agree with the rest. BofA has no clue on what’s going on out here among workers trying to save them from their bad loans and previous mistakes.
I have 4 going on and one has been “under review” for 378 days as of today. Buyer is backing off and I am not getting paid.
Would someone do something to change this, please?
Arla Hatch
September 8, 2009 at 8:09 pm
I absolutely love the BOA Retard Division Photo on the top of the article! I laughed so hard. I don’t usually post on blogs, I just read them for research purposes, but this one deserves a post.
My husband and I have been waiting 122 days for our short sale to get approved. The first is BOA and the second is GMAC. BOA approved it August 26th with a promise to have the approval letter within 48 hours. We finally got their approval letter (Notification of the letter via the Seller’s Agent) the 2nd of September. Yeah 48 hours my butt! Now we are waiting on GMAC, who we have been led to believe already gave us a verbal yes, but we haven’t received the written approval yet. And we aren’t even to the ‘regular 30 days to closing’ yet…
but my frustration with BOA doesn’t end there. I worked for them years ago and got fired for being one minute late on Friday the 13th! The branch I worked at always made me feel like an outsider and I guess that was their way of getting rid of me.
I wanted to Thank all of you bloggers for your info. about your dealings with BOA and with short sales. 🙂
teresa
September 10, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Russell,
I am sure that if your Bank of America tirade were to be published locally in your area, on say one of your famous radio ads or perhaps a billboard, that your business would tank! I have not seen a more offensive use of the word “retard” in years….. you should have a stomach-ache for writing that garbage…. I would love for all of your clients to see just how sensitive a fellow you are, and the fair housing people, in my opinion, would have a hey-day with this one.
You appear to be crass,small-minded, and a bigot…. If I get caught up on my own work, I will make it a top priority to see that those in your own market-place are aware of your views on “retards”….you are a real charmer!
AK Stout
June 16, 2010 at 2:15 pm
Teresa – Thank goodness somebody said this. I was reading down the comments and could not believe only one person had a problem with this and she was even light-hearted and forgiving. The “disclaimer” added at the top does not in any way make this post any better at all. While I agree with the statements made with respect to the poor business practices by BoA I in NO WAY agree with how this blog post was contrived and the analogy made – it’s disgraceful.
Russell Shaw
September 12, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Teresa,
Looks like I am just real lucky that you are so busy.
Steve Norris
September 14, 2009 at 12:18 pm
@ Teresa – Please note Russell’s apology above, dated Sept.1 I think, if you do a little research, you will find that Mr. Shaw is anything but a “crass, small-minded bigot”.
@ Russell – I have been having serious delays with BOA when in 2nd position. Up to 6 weeks to review initial package; has this been your experience?
Kelly Pfeil
September 15, 2009 at 12:02 pm
I have to agree with Russell, however I don’t approve of using the term “retard”. I have been working on one for 13 months. Should I just give up? This is the most unbelievable way to conduct business I have ever seen. I know that they have ordered at least 12 BPOs. I have not received a phone call, email or anything!!! I wonder how their corporate office would respond to your criticism.
cj
September 19, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Russell, This is a very informative and useful article and thread. However, the verbiage and photographs are ill-advised and detract from your intended purpose, likewise making your insightful article lack a serious intent. This is a very important topic highlighting the disingenuous way boa is handling the short sale process. I humbly ask you amend the article and remove the photos so we can move on to the real topic. I think people who other wise might contribute to the article may move on due to admittedly unintentionally offensive content. Full disclosure here, I am currently in the process of a short sale with boa currently past 90 days. While I understand this is very early in the process, we seem to be stuck in a circular pattern. We have submitted all necessary documents however, the process takes 10 business days to go thru the fax/pdf stage and another 10 business days to be approved before the docs can be submitted to a level 1 negotiator. Two times now boa has asked for current bank and paystub docs. Evidently previous month docs are necessary, 20 business days is 1 month. In the current system we will never able to provide current docs, this is an obvious stalling tactic, WE ARE LIVE IN THE 21ST CENTURY IT DOES NOT TAKE 10 BUSINESS DAYS EXACTLY TO ELECTRONICALLY PROCESS DOCUMENTATION. Until Bob’s insightful post I had been racking my brain as to how this could possibly be beneficial to BOA. I had been “looking for the money” , now I understand this is a gamble for future lawsuits, as well as, understand boa stands to make more money filing insurance claims. I wonder if someone shouldn;t be talking to the MI co.s about this. Surely their btm. lines will be affected adversly by this practiced.
Faye
December 21, 2009 at 9:24 pm
I have to agree with this opinion. I am 6 months into a short sale where I offered exactly the asking price. We have never been told if the loan has went to a Level 2 negotiator; in fact, we got the seller’s agent to ask them (boa) to expedite the approval and he was told that that would take an addt’l 6 weeks. Huh!!
Jeremy
September 25, 2009 at 11:10 am
Using pics of challenged people is very poor taste. Shame on you and AG for doing this.
I will say I hate Bank of America though, just dropped them for Chase. If Chase sucks as bad of BofA then it’s backing to using credit unions for me.
Caroline M
October 2, 2009 at 11:01 am
I think that the use of the boy in the picture with Down Syndrome Is not in good taste at all.
If you had any thought for the millions of parents struggling everyday to come to terms with this….you would take the photo of this boy down and replace it with your own. obviously the way you are responding to the posts…make much more sense!
Jo
October 2, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Having been a real estate professional, I applaud your attack on the banks but I do not appreciate your use of
the word “retard” and the pictures of precious children
with Downs.
Yes, I did notice your apology, but the harm has been done and what you first wrote reveals the real you and your reactions to people less fortunate.
I am very disappointed in you Russell Shaw!
Linda
October 2, 2009 at 5:02 pm
I noticed Russell’s original apology, but I think his response to Teresa’s comments shows his true character – rude, dismissive, insensitive and unprofessional.
BawldGuy
October 3, 2009 at 9:30 pm
I’ll tell ya what I know about Russell’s character. He doesn’t yield to PC bullying after he’s sincerely apologized. Neither would I.
Jay Thompson
October 3, 2009 at 10:34 pm
I’ve met Russell Shaw and I can tell you one thing for certain: he is FAR from being rude, dismissive, insensitive and unprofessional. He apologized for Pete’s sake, why can’t that be accepted?
Donna Richards
October 5, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Hi Russel,
Your article on Bank of America, is unfortunately too true. Do you think there is another motive for not conducting short sales in a timely manner, and then, if you are lucky enough to get somewhere, the seller contribution that is almost impossible to meet, not paying the necessary closing costs. I even had them reduce a commission to 4% because they did not notice, the selling agent was from an entirely different company. When I asked them to revisit, I got a response in minutes that the investors said they were losing so much, they would not change it. The truth was, the negotiator made a mistake, and did not submit my request. Even if true, why do they take it out on the Realors back, for their poor lending practice?
I hear that they would rather foreclose, than shortsale, the benifit for the write off is better, and they also write off the payroll for the “Retards” they hire.
The way they practice business and treat us as agents is mortifying to say the least. The absolute worse branch is for the line of equity in South Carolina, they should get the Rude Retard award of the century.
Thanks Donna
Love your article. I even tried to see if there were class action suits going on. Apparently the banks have gotten themselves exempt. If a borrowor feels slighted, they have to sue individually, which of course they cannot afford.
God Bless the US
October 6, 2009 at 9:17 am
It is time to take our frustrations to the streets of America! Wake up America these clowns are playing us the entire way. I have 11 short sales in process with BOA. NONE, NADA, ZILCH have been approved and some have seriously been in progress for over 400+ days now! BOA doesn’t have a clue how to handle this situation. They hire.. it seems anyone off the streets to handle these files. When I asked a negotiator what is taking so long and what is the hold up she stated. “We have over 800 files to review, we work six days a week into the night” I simply stated, that they needed to hire more people and she was adamant that it wasn’t possible. She stated, “We can’t just hire thousands of people to handle these files” That is when the bailout of the billions last yr to BOA ran through my mind and I snapped. I can’t handle the calls anymore. I snap everytime they tell me it’s been assigned to another MOFO negotiator. One file has had &*** Seven different negotiatiors!! You constantly get the run around to the point where you want to reach through the phone and rip the MOFO negotiators heads off! Literally, short sales from hell that are driving me insane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GDC
October 8, 2009 at 1:25 am
Anybody dealt with the REO’s working for BOA AFTER the foreclosure/auction? They want the listing agent to work (and work you will!) for peanuts, or for free. (their acct dept admitted expense reimburse turnaround time is 60 to 90 days) They actually expected us to pay to have the utilities turned on, pay the monthly bills, and then stated in the Master List Agreement that they would only pay $50/mo. Our city utility co. charges monthly “service fees” of about $100/mo, just for having the utility account on (before you ever use any power), so apparantely the LA is supposed to supplement the utility bill. NOT! Kick Rocks B of A!! I am so done with these idiots!
Mellisa
October 22, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Help! Need advice. Went from 2 incomes to 1 income, loosing the bigger of the 2. Haven’t made a mort. payment for 8mo. Tried to get loan mod, sent/resent paperwork multiple ways more times than I can count. Was approached by invester to Short Sale the house. BOA rejected the offer. Now can’t even offer again for 3mo. I live in Michigan. Should I just foreclose, go bankrupt, or ride it out. I won’t be able to handle paying a deficiency, can hardly make it week to week now. We tried in good faith to work with them, but got NO where.
I don’t understand what BOA is getting by making it so difficult. At auction they won’t get what was offered for the S/S.
I love the pic – they just look ugly and dumb – not with downs syndrome. Anyway, when the word retard is used disparagingly its “Slang” — not used correctly. If you know the real definition of RETARD – it fits perfectly for BOA and thier lawyers.
Verb: To make slow; delay the development or progress of (an action, process, etc.); hinder or impede.
Thanks for listening.
Dan
November 3, 2009 at 11:53 pm
I think what needs to happen is for some law firm that is looking to make a name for itself to go after B of A in a class action lawsuit representing the neighborhoods of houses that sold for far less as REO properties because they wouldn’t do the short sales. Typically when they finally sell as bank owned listings they go for much less which has devestated property values.
I also would like to see states have a minimum standard for loan modifications and short sales and if the bank does not meet the standards then the cost for doing foreclosures should be significantly higher. Charging a surcharge to banks like Bof A who do not make a decent attempt to get these deals done before going to auction would help replace the revenue the states are loosing due to the lower property values and property taxes and also help create some incentive for the banks to get these deals done before they go to sale.
JG
November 16, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Russell……..I have over 50 Short Sales this month with BofA /Countrywide and its true….they are not efficient or intelligent in their approach. No the less we need to move forward. In January 2009 I met with some of the local politicians and days later BofA called me and they approved everything. I sincerely believe we need to get together and formulate a strategy to change some of the local rules for BofA. Until we approach them from a position of strength THEY will continue to wreck the local economy.
walter
November 22, 2009 at 3:11 am
What a joke I see no mention of you involvment in the situation at all. Russ I am an agent and when I first got my lic. I interviewed to work with you. Thank god above I did not choose to work with your staff who as the top selling agent in the state sold what 10% of the properties that are now in the short sale process I would love to get my hands on the original documents that boa has and see how many loans you were a part of that you in your fiduciary duty said to these buyers yes this is a good deal at this price. How much money did you make at 3% on representing these buyers who are now losing the home. Did you go to the signing with them? Or did you just wait for title to issue that check.
Phoenix Agent
December 3, 2009 at 12:00 am
While I can appreciate the frustration with short sales, it is evident that Russell is not as well-versed as he professes. Many short sale negotiators do indeed come from years in the real estate and mortgage industry, but are now bound to follow the instructions and requirements of the entity that actually holds the note on a loan, or the mortgage insurance company, if there is one. Banks DO service loans for other lenders–they do not simply hold all of their own notes–and Countrywide was the single largest loan servicer in the country. Now Bank of America has inherited those loans. I know that the acceptable terms for a short sale differ from one loan to the next, based on several factors, including who holds the actual note, and more importantly, how the seller’s current financials and spending habits look. As some of the postings on this site have stated, negotiators are working through mounds of files and are doing their best to comply with all of the demands from both ends, while trying to ascertain the homeowners that really need a short sale vs. those that just “made a bad investment” and want out. The process is undoubtedly flawed, but with all the issues involved, it seems that a “perfect” solution is a ways off. To agents and sellers, a “perfect” system would be one without any accountability on the part of the seller–banks would simply take large losses and allow the sellers to walk away from their responsibilities. How likely is that to happen?
Keep in mind that no lender is obligated to do a short sale and accept less than a full payoff–even when we cannot fathom why the deal is not good enough. The issue may lie with the seller and not the offer. There are a lot of “back end” issues that we never see or understand, which are what complicate the process. As a side note,Russell–you rave about Wells Fargo short sales–next time you speak to a negotiator at CW/BofA, ask them how many of their loans are serviced FOR Wells Fargo.
Making the generalization that the employees of any company are “retarded” is extremely unprofessional and ignorant. These people are trying to make a living and are doing the best that they can, given the sheer volume of contracts they deal with and the regulations imposed on them. Berating them and being nasty will not make your job any easier. There is always the option of not accepting short sale listings. Your article does serve one very important purpose: It lets Phoenix sellers know not to hire you for a short sale listing, since your ranting is not going to endear you to the banks (or their employees) that you slander and will definitely not help you with your short sales, so your clients would be better served seeking an agent that has not angered the lenders. Word does get out. Your managing broker may be interested in your actions as well. By the way, the BofA REO management you tried to butter up? These would be the same department executives that oversee the short sale department. I recommend knowing your target a little better before taking aim. Good luck getting REO listings after this article has been posted!
Jim
December 4, 2009 at 10:47 pm
While short sales are frustrating and hard for all sides we all need to keep in mind that the loans originated by the banks were in a large part done by mortgage brokers in cooperation with the realtors in these deals during the boom. Borrowers, knowing well their financial situation were so willing to take a stated loan in hopes they will be making more money in a year or the home will appreciate $100k in 6 mnths. There are people with true hardships that need help but it also seems(especially in FL and other resort communities) that people that saw an infomercial and went out to become superstar investors overnight with loans through their realtor/loan officer. That does seem a bit “retarded” now doesnt it. We also should not forget that these horrible loans everyone in the industry(including poor government oversight) were so eager to do are part of your mutual funds, IRA, 401k, or any other investment portfolio thanks to wall street thinking it was a cash cow. So those losses translate to the markets now. We are all in this mess trying to figure a way out. On a final note, most realtor’s entitlement to 6% is amazing. There is no federal or state mandate on commission. It is what the market dictates. So guess what my agent friends? Like so many other Americans working harder for a little less pay, so is the real state industry. I never got a complaint when you could attach your card to a new home app and get a 4-5% commission check. No complaints then. Hopefully the banks will be more willing to make faster decisions and help the true hardships such as unemployed and ill borrowers who would be able to pay but for a tragedy in their lives and hopefully more competent agents will take strategic actions instead of simply yelling in font.
mattweidnerlaw
December 10, 2009 at 8:14 pm
The ineffectiveness is amazing. I learned today that BofA’s entire short sale system collapsed, look here for more information. mattweidnerlaw.com/blog/?p=329
K. Yunger
December 11, 2009 at 8:49 am
I have been forced into foreclosure by Bank of America and I would like to file a class-action lawsuit against them. After months and months of trying to get TWO different short sales (on my own home) through Bank of America both of which failed because it was taking B of A too long, I am furious that I am facing foreclosure now because of their incompetency. As one of the comments above, my first short sale was a great offer which would have paid B of A off completely but was presented as a short sale because of a second mortgage with Wachovia that would not be satisfied with the sale. After 3 1/2 MONTHS, it was not yet approved and my buyer had to cancel the contract and buy another house. Also, as I read above, it is unbelievable that it takes B of A over 10 days to even log in a short sale contract, let alone take a look at it. That is just shocking in this day and age.
My realtor and I have had hundreds and hundreds of phone calls with Bank of America employees this year and each person we talk with is dumber than the last one. Here is a good one…before the real estate listing contract expired, Bank of America changed the locks on the house so my realtor couldn’t even get in to get their sales materials out of the house. Fortunately, I am living in another state and the home is vacant but I was not informed that they were changing the locks. That is just outrageous.
Fred Romano
December 11, 2009 at 9:34 am
The last comment proves exactly why me and many agents won’t deal with short sales. I feel bad for all those that need to do one though.
Ted Jernigan
December 11, 2009 at 10:21 am
I have spent many (won’t tell how many) years in other businesses. Ten years in real estate, and I could create a better short sale process than the ones I have seen. When I was attempting to solve a major problem we always broke it into pieces and attacked the “low hanging fruit” first. In sales these are the ones yielding the quickest and easiest profits. In the mortgage mess, that would be the ones with the smallest shortages. I did a short sale last year that would have only cost the lender about $10,000 at the point where we submitted two contracts and the seller’s paperwork. After calling every work day for 90 days the lender assigned a negotiator and they managed to close in 7 days. The shortage to my seller had become $25,000 after penalties, interest, additional missed payments and legal fees. The bank accepted one of the original offers. It did not take a CPA or a rocket scientist to see that my seller was flat broke and was looking for a graceful way out. If the lender had prioritized files on receipt this one should have been much higher in the processing que. I have been reluctant to take on other short sales because of the time commitment. I am looking for the “lower hanging fruit” too.
Marguerite Regan
December 15, 2009 at 3:35 pm
BOA lost me 4 short sale offers on my home. I have not made a payment since July. We could have sold that home back in June and then again in August. All of the offers have been pulled because nobody wanted to wait any longer. I’ve had the home on the market fo/r 3 1/2 years–I paid my mortgage for three years while not living in it (in addition, to having a child, and seeing my husband through cancer and a layoff. I am finished. It’s BOA’s problem now. I wish we could file a class action suit. Does anybody know of one?
Rick Fisk
December 15, 2009 at 5:26 pm
One wonders if BofA got the sweetheart deal that some other lenders got.
fdic.gov/consumers/loans/loanmod/
This allows the bank to make more money by going to foreclosure and making a claim. Once they re-sell at a loss, the FDIC insurance kicks in and the taxpayers get to pay for the difference in market value and original loan amount.
Terrific deal for the Bank executives. A really good analysis of this can be found at this blog post detailing how Soros, Michael Dell et al, took advantage of this when acquiring IndyMac.
shortsalejacksonville.com/2009/09/onewest-bank-taxpayers-and-the-fdic-looking-into-the-deal-and-the-resulting-loss-share-agreement.html
BofA may not be as dumb as you think. Or…rather they’re dumb like Br’ier Rabbit….
Wally
December 17, 2009 at 11:10 pm
To everyone who states they would like to file a class action law suit, and inquiring about entitlement…
Hey, how about paying your stinking mortgage like your neighbor who is working 2 jobs? Oh, is it some big bad man’s fault who MADE you sign those loan docs when you bought it? Short selling your house is not a right. YOU can’t pay YOUR loan, so you want to sue the bank.
And no, Russel Shaw does not go to the majority of his signings. He chucks out a bunch of advertisements, delegates, and sits back while the checks roll in. But OOOH, he has time to blog about the injustice!
Trump
December 18, 2009 at 5:50 pm
LOL – that is awesome Wally!!
ShortSaleSally
June 15, 2010 at 3:29 am
Nice one Wally! Kudos for being the first to say it. Sellers-Pay your obligations. Stop blaming everyone else on your misfortunes and realize, when everyone wanted to make a quick dollar on an investment, you were helping steer that wagon. Realtors-be glad you have something to sale.
FYI – BofA has recently added close to 200 employees to handle these Short Sales. The short sale process take time because of all the docs collected, reviewed and analyzed. Do you think it fair that someone qualifies for a short sale just because they want to get out of their obligation? The people who qualify are in distress financially (not because its a second home, upside down and the seller just wants out) and should count themselves lucky because 1) they have a buyer 2) it is not going into foreclosure (which stays on your credit report FOREVER).
Back to the process, a big hold up is getting the proper docs from either the seller or the agent. Secondly, after discussing the process with the agent and explaining the fees the the Investor will and will not pay, they STILL want to negotiate. BofA services these loans, required to do due diligence, review every single document before even sending it for a QC review.
I am a Short Sales Specialist and have close to 300 loans in my pipeline. When a file is assigned to me and this is usually after the documents are collected and the Valuation has been order, I review the file and contact the Agent IMMEDIATELY to go over the process, collect any further documents and give them my direct contact information.
Ashley Nuckles
December 21, 2009 at 9:37 pm
I’m a first time home buyer in Las Vegas, NV. I’ve already been approved for a mortgage, and I’ve been shopping for homes since the end of June. Upset b/c investors with cash kept outbidding me on the bank-owned homes, I went into contract on a short sales the middle of August.
The lender is (Guess who?) Bank of America, and it’s been utter hell. They keep re-assigning my negotiator. It went to the third phase TWICE and got kicked back to the first phase-whatever the hell that means. As far as I’m concerned the only word that can be used to describe these idiots is ‘retard’. And yes, I agree with the polite woman with the down-syndrome sibling, that people with down-syndrome would actually do a much better job than the morons at B of A.
olive
January 8, 2010 at 1:29 pm
is there somebody out there who can help or do something with this bank, they dont deserve to be in this business, i’ve closed my accounts with them, i hope all of their other customers do the same because people who are running this bank are so SELFISH, they dont want to help.my house is in short sale got an offer for cash but we’re not getting anywhere its like we’re just running on a treadmill but not getting anywhere, if there’s anybody out there who can help?, or if somebody from this bank reads these comments pls , pls., we are doing our part why don’t you do yours and don’t say that you understand what we’re going thru because you don’t, you don’t feel the agony, pain and hopelessness that we feel in losing our home.
Mack Perry
January 10, 2010 at 8:45 am
Russell, I can only find one fault in this post, even though I was not looking for it. You stated that Wells will not pay buyer closing costs and I just closed a short sale approved by Wells Fargo and they did contribute $6,000 toward my buyers closing cost. Other than that, fantastic article as usual.
kjhomefinder
January 11, 2010 at 4:47 pm
BOA needs to clean up their short sale process. This is getting to be a game of Shoots and Ladders, at best! If they impose a rule on a homeowner or do not like an offer then they send the short sale down the shoot back to the beginning. How stupid is that? it will cost them more money in the long run.
BOA is awful!
January 13, 2010 at 10:56 am
We had a cash offer to do a short sale on our home. Started the process 9/3/2009 as of 12/30/09 no negotiator although we had submitted all the paperwork. 1 Appraisal was done per Michael Sheldo. He also told us the file was dropping through the cracks and he was going to escalate the file on 12/30/09. However on 1/5/2010 our home was foreclosed on, and I quote the foreclosure dept, “the foreclosure date didn’t get postponed, it dropped through the cracks”. Our house was foreclosed on 1/5/2010 and as of today, the Short Sale dept does not know the the house has been foreclosed on and is still asking for information to complete the shortsale. No accountability, just several people saying “sorry, that your file got dropped”! Unbelieveable!
Katie
January 13, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Amen Russell! We have 2 listings in Short Sale with Bank of America, one of which I have the Buyer for and we submitted our contract in July 2009, every week it is the same story, “please call back in 10 days”. UGHHHHHHHHHHhhhhh!!
Sunny
January 15, 2010 at 9:34 am
We just got denied for a 3rd time by BOA. We had an offer come in that would have paid out 92% after realtor fees. We don’t have the necessary $33,000 to complete the transaction. BOA took 2 1/2 months to come back and tell us we got disapproved. We stopped making payments six months ago to try to get the process rolling. BOA is not helping with short sales nor are they attempting to work with their customers.
Fred Glick
January 15, 2010 at 10:09 am
Maybe they think values are going up!
Also, they have the money to withstand the drop in values so why should they cave?
They may look bad, but they are there to make profits, not be a social service agency.
I am not in favor of what they’re doing and don’t have the answer to what they are doing but hang in there!
John Kidwell
January 15, 2010 at 5:53 pm
I am an attorney handling a negotiation for a client’s short sale with BOA. After 90 days, on New Years Eve, the case negotiator sent me a secure email that I could not open requiring additional information they already had. If they didn’t get it by Monday (after the holiday weekend), they would arbitrarily cancel the file. I got them the information, bu they still cancelled the file. Unconscionable! Bad faith…you said it! Does anybody know of any law that forbids these financial institutions from doing this? Any ammo would help.
Shuja khetani
January 15, 2010 at 6:16 pm
i had the same problem with b of a …. it took them 17 months to close a freaking short sale … these retards do not understand market is falling we clients offered 300k they wanted 330k by the time approved for 300 market is down to 170 they lost more than 200k because a retard can not forcast the market
Jack
January 15, 2010 at 11:43 pm
Pure HELL is what we have been going through. We received a verbal approval of our short sale on Dec. 12, 2009, and now it is Jan. 16, 2010 and we still do not have a written approval. The buyer has walked away from the deal….this is the third time that the house has been sold, but the buyers walk away because of the incompetence of BOA. They continually slow down the process to make it difficult for all involved…….
Ken Pauley
January 24, 2010 at 11:22 am
This post and a few others I have come across have been very informative in regards to what is going on over at B of A. I find it rather ironic that on their own website (homeloanbusiness.bankofamerica.com/ShortSaleInformation.aspx) they try to make the process sound so simple:
“Once we have received a copy of the signed purchase contract:
* Within approximately 2 days of receiving the faxed documents, the customer or agent will receive confirmation of the received purchase contract. If the offer is possibly viable, an interior appraisal will be ordered.
* Within an additional 3 days an appraiser will be assigned, they will contact the customer or their agent to schedule an appointment to conduct an interior appraisal.
* Approximately 7 to 10 days after the appraisal is ordered, the results of the appraisal will be received by us. This is absolutely dependent on obtaining access to the property in a timely manner.
* Upon receipt of the appraisal, we will conduct an analysis to determine if the Short Sale offer is aligned with the fair market value.”
I think the key thing is in the first line of this, “Once we have received a copy” as it seems the hardest thing to do is to get them the copy of these documents.
My wife and I are the potential buyers of a short sale transaction that should be fairly clean. Single person on title, property on the market for 2 years with no other offers but ours, very depressed area, seller is of course motivated, first title has initially cleared and we are waiting for BofA to approve their second.
I have been hearing from the Realtors that they have had to FAX in the paperwork about 6 times so far, each time they call to verify they are bounced to another person who has been assigned this case and they do not see the file in the system yet. The last time they called in they said “did you fax it in in 10 page increments?”. It’s seems like the rules are figured out as they go.
A possible good thing is coming across these various blog postings. We learned of the Equator system and maybe that is a better thing, as of this last Friday paperwork was being re-submitted via this system, we’ll see if it is better.
And, seeing this post, it sounds like BofA can be a little more reasonable when it comes to seconds, which is the case for us, so I’m hoping this is a good thing. We’ll see, I’m tracking our progress on our blog if anyone is interested, and have posted a link back to this article as well. blog.mountainearsfarms.com
If there are any suggestions for us, we’d love to hear them.
anna marassi
January 27, 2010 at 10:00 am
It is Jan 27, 2010 and I am still waiting for BOA decison or better yet revision of some folder for a house we put a deposit in Nov last year. You know what: I love you. Thanks for the article, you rock!
J
January 27, 2010 at 10:48 am
I have several BofA short sales and in January I closed one and I have approvals on three more. It takes time but its not impossible.
Mila de Mier
January 28, 2010 at 10:08 pm
Bank of America is more epidemic to this country than the Swine Flu.
Holly cow…I do not have any dude that is imposible that they could be so stupid. I know with all of my deals they probably hundreds of thousands, maybe 6 figures #.
I present,with ofer above fair market and did not get responses.
One get to 7 negotiator in phase one and them tell to be nice…after finally get to phase 2 negotiator who close the file for mistake.
Another deal with a super fair offer in the table, the close, and open the file 4 times over a year playing this game.
As a listing agent, in most of BOA short sale listing have to make get under contract 3, 4, 5 times before I get pay.
I really think that they do not really want to approved more short sale because they do not want to show the investors have many loan are in default and for most part the people working there sucks.
In any corporation in United States that I work as hard that I work for this BOA, I will have be compesate every month with a paycheck and the sure be the one the ones to call be everyday and not me to call them and ask for mercy and be the end and all my hard work they always cut my fee, but still pay BIG BONUS…BIG COJONES at my hard work expense.
I Hate BOA, I will not put a penny in BOA, I recomend my customers based on my experience not to do business with them. Many negotiators will refuse to take file from BOA at this time. Goood luck to everybody but is not much with them
Short Sale Software
January 29, 2010 at 11:31 am
I’ve heard both positive and negative (albeit admittedly much more negative) about BOA. That said; I’ve also heard lots of encouraging news recently on the situation improving. Among other things, there is the HAMP programs, the FHA title seasoning changes, rumors through the grapevine that BOA is expanding their loss mit departments, newspaper articles on fraud for 2nd lien position holders. Who knows what is going on – I suppose time will tell, but over the past few months I really have heard / witnessed a marked improvement in the perception of BoA loss mit policies.
Regina B.
February 1, 2010 at 4:57 pm
I worked in the Short Sale Department for about 4 months. The problem goes deeper than the reps who answer the phone in the short sale department. It is not the reps that are at fault and not even so much the managers of the department even though some of them can’t give you a straight or a correct one. The managers aren’t trained well and they train the agents in customer service. The momemental fault for lack of a powerful word is the fault of the CEOs and heads of the bank itself for ignoring the problem and the problems are more than those of just the Short Sale department. There is a tremendous lack of informative communication. Knowledge is not the keyword for this bank. They key word is confusion. Could be that the ceo’s of B of A want to keep this operation confusion on going, I really don’t know. It sure seems like it. I worked with one so-called lead for a month and most of the questions I asked remained unanswered. At the present time all short sales are going into the Equator because that is presently the answer to all of this. Yet again, no one is really trained in it, there are no real directions and no real directions for the homeowners and the agents. There are tech support phone numbers however, certain loans are going in there that should not be in there because they are too close to closing or FHA,,Gmna loans, private label & others. Yet, they are placed in there and when you asked a quesiton, all you do get is a dumb answer from the managers because they don’t know themselves. Inshort, the lesson that I learned is if you have a lot of money in Bank Of America, pull it out and go somehwere else for a short if you can! I have worked in many jobs throughout my lifetime, never have a worked within such chaos! I reaaly thought that B of A was a good bank before this. But it is truly alarming.
Cathy Ryan
February 6, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Regina, your comments on what goes on internally at BofA makes sense. I have worked as Home Retention Counselor with Titanium Solutions for 5 years now. No one ever knows what is going on. However, I can say that I have been persistant and have close several BofA/CW short sales. I just closed 1 yesterday after 4 months. The rediculous thing on this sale was that FannieMae had approved the short sale 11/19/09. I knew this, because someone from FannieMae call me directly. According to the cust reps in the short sale dept said that a negotiator had not been assigned to the file yet. They assigned the file on 11/30/09. I called twice a week, I emailed the negotiator and her supervisor with no response. It wasn’t until 1/11/10 that I got the approval letter that was dated for 11/19/09 and expired on 12/20/09! I couldn’t do anything with that letter. I still had to negotiate with the 2nd, which was Wells Fargo. Finally, I got an extension letter. Wells Fargo approved their short sale in a week. WF on a HELOC, took 10% of the balance for a settlement. I have it in writing that they are not pursuing the deficiency. BofA’s loan is a purchase money loan, which is non-recourse in the State of California. This is frustrating to the sellers, buyers and the agents. Hopefully, with Equator it will get better. But I am not holding my breath. I have 5 short sales with BofA in Equator right now. We will see.
jojo
February 4, 2010 at 9:54 pm
Heal to BoAm.
For being so BIG that the left hand has no idea what the right hand is doing, as a Realtor I have entertained numerous short sales with Boa in the past 8 years and a couple in the past 3 months that involved the past Countrywide Mtg. Lately calling customer service is like being part of a torture chamber, ask 4 different questions and will get 5 different answers! Ok – not that bad, but 4 for 4. I listed a short sale in late September, had a contract in early Nov. closed on this cash deal ($285k) in mid. Nov. Simple policies make simple deals – BoAm. now involved with this Equator.com site (a generic short sale site) – which makes the transaction even more frustrating, as the program may or may not be up and running the day you, and/or the seller have to upload info. mind that your seller must be computer literate – good luck on that with the senior developments. C’mon BoAm. lets work together and close on these homes in a very timely fasion. I am currentley with a transaction where BoAm. is the 2nd. lien holder and still make it difficult to accept a % of funds from the originating bank! A good thing that only a small % of BoAm. customers are Realtors, as BoAm. would be owned by Wells fargo
Toni Labrum
February 6, 2010 at 2:46 pm
I’m currently working on a new short sale with B of A with their new system…I’ll let you know if it is BETTER or WORSE….Could it get any worse with BofA??? with alot of loans with BofA I hope their new system has different guidelines and rules for approval. I try to keep a positive attitude in these trying times! I’ll keep you all posted on my experience.
Broker & Broker
February 11, 2010 at 8:43 am
The problem with BOA (like the snake that eventually squeezes its prey so hard it just dies in its clutch) is expectation management. Simply when an offer is submitted their response is to “Go Dark.” Weeks turn to months and then perhaps years. The human response is anxiety and indecision on the buyer’s and seller’s parts. Bad news can be managed. Any news can be managed. But no news is the worst. The best realtor or sales professional cannot manage expectations from the Darkness (which is all that BOA is to the principals).
My current customer has a child with Down syndrome. She is so pissed at BOA she told me they were acting like a “bunch of retards,” which I think validates your characterization.
The word exists in the language because it describes a certain lack of intelligence. I know there is the other meaning but the two really have little to do with each other except when someone tries to compare your characterization of BOAs behavior with their beautiful child.
Every day I hear the words; Idiot, Moron, Imbecile: all scientific terms (albeit abandoned by science—like the word Retard –relating to varied levels of stupid behavior among the general population. I suspect few who use these words are trying to insult the certified Idiots, Imbeciles, and Morons walking among us.
What other word is available to us to describe BOAs loopy behaviour: “Exceptional?”
Levi Adams
February 11, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Bank of America has put me through living hell. I sold my house in November after they accepted the short sale. The title company released the funds and the property was recorded with the county. I continue to get daily phone calls from BoA telling me that I’m late on my payments and that they are going to foreclose on my property. I tell them everyday that I do not own the property,etc. Apparently this particular division doesn’t communicate with the short sale department, nor are they capable of doing so. They never update my file therefore the next person who calls me has no idea of what is going on. They wont transfer me to the short sale dept or to any type of manager. We start over everyday. Its pure incompetence and is rising to the level of harassment. Any ideas?
Fred Glick
February 11, 2010 at 2:47 pm
Can we all share the name, phone numbers, email addresses of people that are either good or bad at B of A?
This way we know what we have to look forward to!
Ken Pauley
February 12, 2010 at 7:30 pm
We continue to suffer with BofA. We’ve been able to get a second entered into the Equator system and everything has been submitted, but they keep telling us we’re in a 10 day waiting period. This is the second time, they said this time there is no record of the first 10 day waiting period being started and said to call back in 10 business days. No negotiator assigned yet, the only contact is the call center which puts you on hour long hold, sometimes hangs up on you and every time you talk to a different person. Ask for a supervisor, they won’t do it.
Anyone have any sort of contact information; email, phone number, anything that would allow us to get to a supervisor or get something moving. This is crazy, they will lose the whole deal as the first will foreclose on them, or they take the token amount, either way, just get us someone who can answer. They have all the information, we just want to get to a negotiator.
Toni Labrum
February 13, 2010 at 2:54 pm
After doing 5 short sales I need to be clear on a couple things, appreciate your input.
1)Best case scenario; Banks verbage clarifying how they stand with the sale, saying they will “not go after Seller”…??
2) California is a non-recourse state, so how does this specifically affect the Seller in Short Sale??
3)Can a property initally purchased and occupied as primary residence for 15 years, now being rented, is there a way for “forgiveness” to kick in??
Appreciate your Professional input!!
Kat
March 3, 2010 at 3:52 pm
Because the house I hope to be short selling (my experience mirrors the rest – 166 days and counting) is no longer my primary residence, it could be difficult to qualify under the Debt Relief program… assuming BOA forgives the debt (and everything I’ve read so far leads me to believe they won’t). I’ve been advised by my tax accountant that if they do, I can avoid paying taxes by claiming insolvency (my debt will be greater than my assets at the time of closure). It’s not like declaring bankruptcy – you don’t go to court or anything and it doesn’t hurt your credit further. It’s just a matter of filling out the right IRS form when you do your taxes the following year.
beau lucas
February 14, 2010 at 9:02 am
I will steer my buyers away from short sale homes after 2 that have fallen off after over 6 months. They are so unorganized. One would think with all that money, they might hire a few extra people…uh, experience mind you!!
Some people have told me that after the new year, they made some changes. Well I heard it is a 50/50 chance!! Sorry, that is not good enough for me. TODAY…I am asking my client (who wants to be in a home in 3 months), to just put an offer on something that he likes less, but that has a better chance of making it in his time frame…or making it at all.
Bank of America doesn’t realize that so many of us bankED with them. I pulled my money out, my everything out of there after this. I do not want to be associated with all this negative energy going on.
Beau Lucas
YOUR St. Petersburg Florida Buyers Agent!
Cehl Sagrado
February 16, 2010 at 3:19 am
First of all, everyone needs to understand how these banks operate behind the scenes. I have not heard any outcry regarding greed and illegal foreclosures which lenders would rather have than mitigate or short sell.
From the very beginning of your transaction the banks already know that the borrowers will default.(ninja, nina, sisa loans) Hence they got insurance (under false pretenses) for processing b,c,d paper. You guessed it right! From AIG (the very first company to get the humongous bail out money). This is called the mortgage default swaps. Then when you are in escrow signing your documents, your loan to be has been packaged to be sold to a wall street investor. Your loan has been pooled into one bucket and was rated AAA by some company(again under false pretenses). When a borrower defaults, the lender/banks collect on their mortgage default swap insurance. This technically paid off the loan. AIG, if at all can collect from the borrowers because the original lenders/banks has now been paid. With all the defaults that happened in 2007, AIG collapsed that is why they got bailed out. This means the lenders/banks got their first payment. Yet the lenders/banks continue to collect from the homeowners until foreclosure proceedings are initiated. The lenders got their second payment when they collected from the bail out money that the lenders/banks were given. The bail out money was supposed to help mitigate the defaults of borrowers wanting to stay in their home. But instead, the lenders used this fund to buy other lenders/banks in trouble and gave huge bonuses to their executives. Now that the foreclosure proceedings are underway, the lender/banks will take back the properties and become REOs. When lender/banks sells the REOs, they have collected their third payment on the same piece of property. Now, I do not know about all of you, but if I can get paid for a piece of property 3 times under false pretenses without anybody questioning it, why then will I entertain loan modification with a $1000 incentive per file or short sale which will not allow me to collect from bail out funds and 0 REO proceeds? Yet the lender/banks still has preserved their right to foreclose and take back these properties which they have been paid for twice. Pretty slick! That is why the lender/banks try to delay as much as they can. They will make more money if they foreclose contrary to what short sale advocates are preaching that it is better for the lender/banks bottom line if they entertain the short sale. Why else are the bigger banks buying up the smaller banks with loan portfolios? It is big business. GREED IS THE NAME OF THE GAME.
Now let us talk about MERS, Mortgage Electronic Registration System. This is a killer.
MERS was established sometime in 1995 but was heavily used starting 2001. It is a tacking software that the lenders are using to track the buying and selling of Promissory Notes to Wall Street. Because of the quick turn around of notes being pooled and sold to Wall Street, they needed to come up with a less costly way of tracking and transferring of ownership of these Promissory Notes (PN). MERS now stood in for the real lender. (Remember MERS is a software and has no identity) Why is it important to understand MERS? Let us back track a little bit. There are 3 instruments of ownership – PN, Deed of Trust (DT) and the Grant Deed(GD). According to our black letter law, the PN and DT are married to each other and cannot be separated otherwise nullifying each instrument if it stood alone. PN is a bearer’s instrument, meaning whoever has physical possession of the PN is the holder in due course, who is entitled to collect payments. This is not a recorded instrument. Only the DT and GD are recorded to tell the world who owns the PN and who has title to the property to protect the note holder and other interested parties.
In pre MERS era, when the PN is sold to another investor, the seller of the PN records an instrument called Assignment of the Deed of Trust so the world will know who now owns the PN. Everytime you sell the PN, there has to be an assignment of deed of trust. Because of the quick turnaround of selling and buying the PNs, the recording of these assignments became very costly and labor intensive. They created MERS to stand in for the lender so they do not have to record any changes. They are hiding the identity of the true lender behind MERS. So, the public do not know who the real owner of the PN. They did this without informing the buyer or the maker of the PN. Who now has physical possession of the PN? WE do not know. If we do not know who holds the PN, how do we know that the one who collects payment from us is the holder in due course, who is entitled to collect payment? We don’t.
Ruth
February 19, 2010 at 1:58 pm
I really don’t understand BOA thinking. We own a home in the northeast. It has been for sale for 2 years. My husband was unemployed for 3 months, then got a new job in a different state. We owe 89K. we got an offer for 88K so after realitors fee’s this would come to $7,000 short. This got denied, and they told me it was because it wasn’t enough money. Meanwhile, the loan is entering forclosure. The place is appraised for $95K, it has lost about 20K in value due to the RE market. This is the FIRST offer on the house in 2 years! Based on other houses that have gone to auction in our town, they will be lucky to get $65K at auction. I don’t understand how this benifits them.
Steve
February 19, 2010 at 9:15 pm
I tried 3 years ago to short sale. I am divorcing for 3 years now waiting on the house to be sold. We had a buyer with a fair deal. BOA dragged their feet until the buyer left. I havent
paid for 3 years now… nothing. No foreclosure nothing. They are just sitting on it and screwing me.
Brian
April 24, 2010 at 8:57 am
How are they screwing you? You’ve been in your house for three years now for FREE. As a lender, they’ve kept their end of the deal, and you haven’t. I just find it amusing how many people here think they are entitled to be able to walk away from their debt if they are upside-down in the house and see themselves as victims if they aren’t allowed to.
Out West
February 19, 2010 at 10:51 pm
Funny how the common theme here is a sense of entitlement: you’re entitled to a short sales with no hassles or deficiency judgment. You’re entitled to quick answers. You’re entitled to call people retarded. You’re entitled to keep your house that you can’t afford. To sellers: go to any attorney, particularly a BK lawyer and they will advise you to walk away from your house. A short sale benefits two people: the listing agent and a buyer’s agent. It does not help you, sellers. Get a lawyer. Leave your agent at home. Your life will change. For the better.
I am a real estate broker who avoids short sales like the plague. And I am waiting for tsunami of lawsuits forthcoming against agents and brokers, by sellers, for acting like lawyers in short sales.
For what it’s worth, B of A is very pleasant to deal with if you’re not a douche to them.
MediatorKen
February 28, 2010 at 2:50 pm
B of A is one of the most difficult banks to deal with during foreclosure mediations as well. It’s not unusual for the representative who appears at the mediation to have absolutely no idea what’s going on and put forth zero effort to even determine whether the homeowner is a candidate for a loan modification.
Toni Labrum
March 1, 2010 at 6:27 pm
I’ve had previous short sales with BofA, not easy, but did close. My current listing is on Equator, I’m hoping this will be a better process. Has anyone had a smooth process with the new Equator, please say, yes…
Christa
March 5, 2010 at 6:18 pm
I have been told that B of A is a pain to deal with. Your not kidding! Our home is curently on the market SS after trying to do a loan mod (for a year) with B of A. It was always the run around. First they want this then that but could never give us an answer. So we decided to go the SS route. We were lucky enough to get an offer the first week our house was listed, 2/2010, for more than asking, but now the waiting game begins. I guess I’m asking ” is it worth the process?’ Do you think we should stick it out and see what happens? We are wondering about the deficiency verbage? Because if we let them foreclose there is no deficiency judgement? We also have a 2nd thru Chase. I’ve been told they are horrible also. If anyone has some direction or advice I would appreciate it.
Linda Copeland
March 11, 2010 at 8:44 am
I have buyers who waited 5 months for a response back from BOA, just as we were suppose to be given a negotiator they completely dropped the file because they said the offer was not acceptable. They gave no counter or explanation, we immediately raised
our offer but they started all over with the file. This company is really unbelievable, they
let the sellers live in the house for over a year paying nothing, and yet they let good buyers get so frustrated with their system that they eventually give up hope. I wish I could
have five minutes with the CEO he definitely should be ousted!!!
Ken Pauley
March 24, 2010 at 12:04 pm
I posted previously about our short sale; we are trying to buy one and BofA holds the second. I thought I would update folks on our timeline since BofA just approved their short sale. I’ve been tracking the overall process on our blog, the latest blog entry has the timeline:
https://blog.mountainearsfarms.com/2010/03/bofa-timeline-recap.html
What I wrote there was this timeline for our BofA portion of the process:
Was just looking back at how long some of this has taken. Of course at this point the overall process has been going on for a little over 4 months (since our offer was accepted). But for Bank of America alone, who only holds the second title on the house and is only getting $3,000 on this deal;
* January 13th is when they were first engaged
* January 22nd we were moved to the electronic, Equator system
* February 17th we were assigned an appraiser
* February 25th they did an appraisal
* March 23rd we received written approval
So 49 business days, 10 weeks, over half of our 4 months. But that wait is now over, finally!
Michele W.
April 13, 2010 at 3:44 am
We had to put our home in NY on the market in late 2008 because of a job loss (from Bank of America oddly enough). Timing is everything in life I guess. But a year later we did finally sell at a great loss – $220K less than we paid for the home in 2005. It was an All Cas deal that could have closed in a week. After months of excrutiating nonsense with BofA’s Short Sale and Loss Mitigation Depts. we finally closed on our Short Sale last November 2009 with BAC Home Loans and moved to Texas.
On the day of our closing, Bank of America was transitioning their computer systems to BAC Home Loans/Countrywide. They assigned us a new mortgage account number. As result, the wires sent from our closing seemed to be “misplaced” for a couple of days. In the end, everyone did get paid though. Or so we thought. In January 2010 I decided to check my credit report to see how badly the short sale had affected my credit rating (which used to be 830). Come to find that BAC Home Loans never closed our account. They had it listed as still open and delinquent for over 120 days! I filed disputes with all the credit bureaus but they all came back saying that Bank of America insists we never sold our home.
After spending days on the phone with all the various departments at the Bank I finally found someone who told me that the reason the account was listed as still open was that they could find no record of receiving any closing funds! They had notes that a Short Sale was pending but found no approval letter or any other documention that we had closed.
While all this was going on, Bank of America thought it would be a good idea to add that old account number to my credit report so now it looked like I had two delinquent mortgages for a house that I sold six months ago when in fact I owe the Bank NOTHING!!!
At this point I am being told my file is being handled by the Foreclosure department! I was also told it was passed over to te Bankruptcy Dept. I sent them a 21 page set of closing documents included a Letter of Mortgage Satisfaction sent to us by the Bank. But STILL they insist they are foreclosing on a house we don’t even own anymore. If there is anyone out there who can offer any suggestions to me I would greatly appreciate it. And to those of you who THINK you completed a short Sale with the Bank of America, you better check on it and make sure and check with all the credit bureaus. There is NO END to the mishandling of these short sales at this inept bank!
V Peyton
April 13, 2010 at 9:33 am
BAC REO offers the most micromanaged foreclosure effort I’ve ever witnessed. My Buyer is beyond frustrated. I guess “holding up the sales process to give the impression that you’re busy” has convinced top management that they deserve to stay on payroll, while everyone involved loses money. Someone should audit how much more money this is costing their Sellers (particularly VA), because without all the unnecessary holdups by staff, we could’ve had this property in NC closed weeks ago.
Suzanne
April 15, 2010 at 10:40 pm
Michelle I feel your pain. I am on the other side of the deal, I am trying to buy a house that is in a short sale deal with BoA. My offer is enough to pay off all of the first and part of the second. They bought the loan from Country Wide for $.17 on the dollar. They would be making money from this short sale. They declined my offer and told the seller that they are going to foreclose on the property without further explaination. The foreclosure date is today and they just sent an email out stating they are still wanting to negotiate the short sale even though they decided to foreclose. I think this is a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing along with a huge amount of greed. I’m curious if these banks get incentives for foreclosures.
Whitney
April 24, 2010 at 12:02 am
I’ts been over 8 months since my husband and I made an offer on a B of A short sale…we haven’t even found out yet if the offer’s been accepted. This is not the first short sale we’ve waited out for months, only to find out then that they didn’t want to short sale the house. I just don’t understnad BOA…they are literally THE WORST!! My realtor warned us, but we had no clue we’d be waiting almost a year on JUST A RESPONSE to our offer…completely moronic.
Michael Friedman
April 28, 2010 at 10:18 pm
All I hear is complaining!
There is a process to all of this. Since it appears none of you have been in mortgage lending let me open your eyes to what happends.
First off, the servicer of a loan does not own the loan. Based upon old servicing agreements the servicers hands are restricted. They needed approvals for every part of the process. Just like a new loan funding with all of the underlying documents, when a request comes in for a short sale these same documents are required by, ironically, RESPA laws.
So here is a brief walk through-
1) Once the complete package is received they need to review it for accuracy. Most of the time the agents don’t send all of the required items or the items are not legible.
2) Once they acknowelge the package is complete its reviewed for compliance with the Representaions and Warranties for which the initial lender funded the loan. (Think buy-back or recourse loans)
3) If there is MI, either self insured or with a PMI company, the package will be sent to them and they will complete the same task as 1&2. (Think loss aversion)
4) Once the these items are completed, the servicer then send the results to the investor.
5) Once the investor receives the package they perform the same items as described in #2 & #3. Additionally, they also complete an audit of the original loan file and compare it to the information provided recently by the borrower. (Think QC or Fruad prevention).
6) If all checks out, then they order the BPO.
7) If the BPO matches the purchase price within 5% they will move forward and submit to the investor the purchase agreement for approval.
8) The investor will weight the benefit of the sale versus the recapture of cost via share loss agreements or buy back agreements. If it’s beneficial to sell, the servicer will get approval.
9) Once the servicer gets the written approval, the internal group processes the necessary agreements and send them for review.
10) Once all of this occures, the listing agent will be notified.
This process can take as little as 30 days or as long as takes to get the information properly submitted.
So I hope this helps you out. Stop blaming the lenders and educate yourself on what it takes to get these approved.
By the way – Who says they have to approve a short sale? Obama? No the investor.
I think the real story is the numerous fraudulent loans borrowers obtained and now are complaining that they cannot malke the payment.
SouthAustinative
October 4, 2010 at 2:37 pm
I wish it were that simple. I’ve been a professional short sale negotiator for nearly a decade now and B of A is, hands down, the worst lender/servicer to try to work out a short sale with. Even when you do everything they ask, submit every doc they need and do so in an orderly and timely fashion, they still manage to screw it up in some way. I can’t even begin to count how many times that docs have been lost, files closed, auctions not postponed when I was told they would be, etc.. I’m very thorough and careful, but it seems that my counterparts at B of A are not. Often they’re snide, uneducated, rude, ill spoken (trying to use words that are clearly too big for them or using improper grammar) and utterly incapable of reading a HUD. I always go into a short sale with a good attitude because I know that the folks there at B of A are working with heavy file loads and are stressed. I also go into it with the idea that the folks I’m dealing with are working towards the same goal I am, to avoid a foreclosure and get the property sold as a short sale. Clearly I’m wrong with that assumption though. The more I deal with Equator, the worse my dislike for B of A and their system is. It’s a nightmare. Docs get uploaded, approved, then dumped and the file closed. When you try to upload them again, they’re rejected as being somehow defective, even though they’re exactly the same as what was sent in and approved already at least once before. Seems that the favorite “reason” for rejecting docs is “other”. “Other” is an adjective, sometimes a pronoun, but it has never been a reason. When I call in to find out what “other” means, it’s usually something stupid like…”The signatures don’t match.”. What? How is it that they matched the 1st time? Why is it that they don’t match this time when they’re exactly the same docs that were submitted and approved the last time? Makes no sense at all. I have no stress at all in believing that B of A’s short sale closure rate is abysmal and Equator is why.
Joe
April 29, 2010 at 2:19 pm
We have no problems closing BOA short sales in a reasonable amount of time. Then again, we know what we are doing.
BOA sucks
April 29, 2010 at 5:19 pm
I agree with everyone on here who hates BOA. I don’t see how anyone can defend this bank. Those who don’t think homeowners should be given the option of a short sale? Why should BOA and all the other banks have been bailed out? And where did that money come from? The taxpayers, or many of the same people BOA has no intention of helping now. Someone asked how is it fair to the neighbor who is working 2 jobs and paying his mortgage? Do you think that neighbor wants to see a house next to him go into foreclosure? All that is going to do is lower the value of his home, something no homeowner wants.
My wife and I are the potential buyers in a short sale. We are now at the 11 month point in the process. There was zero communication from BOA the entire time. The only thing we ever heard was a request for an extension every month from our lawyer. In February, we were told we were going to final review. After not hearing anything, our agent finally was able to get a hold of someone. She was told the appraisal was rejected because it was too old, so they would need a new one. Now bear in mind, this is the appraisal that BOA ordered themselves, and then did not make a decision before it expired.
At this point, our realtor decided to submit all the paperwork through Equator, figuring after 9 months with nothing the other way, it can’t hurt. This has been no better than the original way. Our agent cannot get a hold of the negotiator ever. She left 7 voicemails and 3 emails in one week, and only heard back after she was able to complain to a supervisor. Even then, no clear answers were given.
Just today, she checked the status and it says rejected. When she called to find out what this was about, she was told the sellers were asked to sign a promissory note for $16,000 over 15 years. They have not refused, but asked for a copy so their lawyer can look at it. They have not been given a copy. They are both unemployed and are unsure if they can make this commitment. I am absolutely outraged as to this being the reason our offer would be rejected. They have not asked us for more money or anything. Plus, these people have not been paying their mortgage for almost a year. That is about $25,000 the bank has lost. Anyone else see the irony here? Had they just accepted our offer 8 months ago, they would have had an extra $16,000 that they would not have lost.
Our agent spent the whole morning on hold with Equator. She can’t get answers from anyone. We are going to continue to fight to get this house after all the time we have already invested in it. It doesn’t look too good though.
Needless to say, I will not ever do a single transaction with BOA the rest of my life. They mess with people’s lives and don’t even care. When we started this process, my wife was not even pregnant. Now, we have a 6 week old daughter, and we need a house for her.
Screw BOA and everyone who works there!
DONA YOUNG
July 27, 2010 at 9:19 am
MY HUSBAND AND I ARE GOING THROUGH THE SAME SITUATION. WE ARE THE SELLERS. WE HAVE THREE CONTRACTS, ONE IS A CASH DEAL. IT IS GOING ON SIX MONTHS !!!! WE HAVE DECIDED TO MOVE OUT AND LEAVE OUR HOME VACANT. WE CAN’T STAY ANY LONGER AND PAY THE UTILITY BILLS.
mis
April 30, 2010 at 6:52 pm
I’m working a short sale through B of A at the moment. We just received an offer, Whoohoo! The first and second are both with BofA. The first will go through the Equator System (no more excuses for losing the file). Unfortunately, the second which is a HELOC through B of A will not go through equator “because it’s a 14 digit account “. I can’t get any further explanation other than “it’s a 14 digit account number”. Unfortunately, the 14 digit account number division still requires all documentation to be faxed in, with additional instrucions not to call to verify the fax for at least 3 weeks. This is clearly a case where the genius’s pictured above are trying to talk to each other with two cans and a string. Unfortunately, the string appears to be severed and I highly doubt this will be discovered on BofA’s end.
Dwight Larks
April 30, 2010 at 11:52 pm
I just got a fully executed contract today….I will let everyone know on here how it goes.
Since it is Friday past 5PM, I will be submitting to equator.com on Monday…Stay Tuned for the real deal.
Jimmy Vanderford
May 6, 2010 at 6:35 pm
I have a personal friend that I represented in a short sale. It started with Countrywide then B of A. After 6 months with no response from the bank the seller decided to pull the plug. This ended up working in his favor. That was over 2 years ago and he still has not recieved notice of trusee sale. Basically he’s lived rent free for 3 years while B of A carries this on their books. Folks, that’s $72,000!!!!!!!!! Whenever I see him he laughs and says buying that house was the best decision he’s ever made. Where else could he live rent free for that long? Washington is a non deficiency state and there will be no recourse for the bank. Now the house has depreciated about 20% and is in worse condition then when I last had a willing and able buyer. This makes me sick and all I can think of is one word. “deficit” Good Job B of A!! Who the hell would even bank with such retards?
Bill Gassett
May 8, 2010 at 2:29 pm
I have one where I was the buyers agent and the offer was 1st submitted in October of 2008. No that is not a misprint. The foreclosure has been put off at least 5 times and the last most puzzling piece of information was that BOA somehow managed to lose the 2nd mortgage. It almost seems to absurd to be even writing this but it’s the truth!
Fernando Herboso
May 10, 2010 at 9:34 am
My 2 cents worth on BoA
I had over 20 short sales that ended up in foreclosure because of BoA
20 families that did not have to lose their homes to a foreclosure
20 listing agreement, 20 + offers, over 15000 faxed pages, hundreds of hours on the phone, hundreds of hours servicing these listings, hundreds of hours apologizing to these clients why Bank Of America is not collaborating. .
Hundreds of hours of my time. . nothing gained by my company. .except
Illuminating testimonial of what kind is a company Bank Of America is. .
I even moved my checking account from them in disgust!
Brad Officer - Short Sale agent Jacksonville Florida
May 13, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Most in this thread won’t believe this, however I just had a BOA short sale closing today! Almost 7 months it took to get it closed.
READ THIS!: Here is the part you won’t believe. Went under contract in November 2009 for $190k….a lower price for the neighborhood. After the bpo, another bpo, and another bpo, BOA decided to accept the deal but only if everyone agreed to adjust the price DOWN to $160k.
I see some BOA changes for the better in the last couple of months. Wouldn’t everyone agree that BOA has gotten much better these day and Wells now occupies the #1 worst spot?
Jim Holbrook
May 15, 2010 at 12:35 am
The conversation I had today with the Loss Mitigation rep was priceless. I had a glitch with Equator and the chat line rep told me to call B of A. I was submitting the contract. The B of A rep told me the property had to be listed 90 days before they would look at an offer. I kid you not. I told him he was mistaken. I’ve done several and that is not the case. Yes, he hmm’d and haw’d as he look through his script. That is B of A’s policy. NO, I told him, you are mistaken. Whay on earth would B of A want a 90 day waiting period, I asked? Most initial buyers bail, he said, so we want you to collect as many offers and you can and 90 days gives you time to do that, then send us the best one. NO I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP! I have a 90 day Notice of Default already filed and waiting 90 days would trigger the Trustee’s Sale. He insisted he was correct. I asked speak to a supervisor. He refused. To the guy who posted that he has no problem with B of A because he knows what he’s doing: Nice ego. But you are full of crap. Or you don’t do short sales. B of A is a nightmare and the worst of companies to deal with. And they had a national conference call a few weeks back where the head of Loss Mitigation stated that B of A was commited to dealing with homeowners with dignity and respect. OMG. That is hilarious.
John Wright
May 18, 2010 at 12:58 am
I finally got tired of BofA abusing me that I started a site called piggybankblog.com for all those who feel bofa abused them. Check it out!
Piggybankblog.com
Uncle Pecos
May 21, 2010 at 4:40 pm
My wife and I have had the pleasure of dealing with B of A’s short sale process since December 2009. We are on our second, no make that third offer so far. The first potential buyer backed out after BofA took thier sweet time decideing whether to accept the offer. The second buyer made an offer, BofA wanted more money, the buyer upped the offer, then BofA declined and we had to start over with the new higher offer. BofA accepted the offer on May 14th with a required closing date of June 3rd. Now the buyer’s trying like crazy to get a loan done in time, and I am currently trying to pack up my home in less than 3 weeks time.
Now, when I called the S/S dept. on Wed. the 19th to find out if the closing date was a typo (perhaps they meant June 30th, not 3rd), I was told it is indeed the third, but I could request an extension. So I did, and was told to call back Friday to see if it had been granted. When I called back this morning, I was informed that they have up to 10 business days to make a decision….well the 10th business day is June 3rd.
Just frustrates me to no end how BofA treats people. This has just been the short sale process….don’t get me started on thier loan modification process.
Brent
June 16, 2010 at 1:26 pm
I have had it with these RETARDS! I currently have 5 pending short sales in Boise Id, 4 of which are BoA Retard deals. I recently hit the accept button for a client in the Retard Equator system only to have them Counter their own counter ( What The?) I am tired of calling the retards at BofA and getting the famous message that they will call back within 24hrs but they never do. You then very soon after learn that their manager lives by the same set of mad phone skills. Man if they can’t handle the volume hire more people & if the people that have been hired aren’t competent or don’t care fire their asses, alot of people would like a job right now!You jokers are messing with my livelihood & it’s really starting to piss me off! Thanks for the great blog! I feel a little better!
San Diego Real Estate
July 3, 2010 at 2:43 pm
This is a hoot. Well, B of A keeps saying that their working on streamlining their short sales processes. But then they change staff… again. Then change policies… again. Then change systems… again. I guess you’re right!
Cameron
July 8, 2010 at 11:22 pm
I work for Bank Of America in the short sale depo. when you call us all we can do is give you the info on the file. the thing is on equator the h/o and the agents are the ones who are retarted. they get a getin started book when they start the short sale. read the damn thing and you will not need to call us.
Toni Labrum
July 9, 2010 at 2:41 am
I’ve tried to give Bank of America benefit of the doubt, but it is a no. I went to a conference put on by BofA for 4 hours. The speaker told the realtors not to call the short sale number because the people on the other end do not know what is going on (BofA employees). and was unable give us a phone number to get answers on our short sales.I was hoping they would share some valueable information to more effectively process the short sales, but all he had to say was it has been a challenge, please tell me something I didn’t know. So many loans are Bank of America it is a shame they cannot seem to get their act together. So many sellers really want to benefit from short sale ilo foreclosure, but BofA makes it almost impossible by trying to control the whole process and not creating a mutual respect and team effort with the outside real estate agents.
Henry Vidangos
July 12, 2010 at 9:18 pm
After two years dealing every single day to reach the short sale approval letter, Bank of America sent me the approval letter that includes the obligation from my client to sign a note for the remaining amount.
I believe I have right to claim from Bank of America for two years the two men who worked full time on the case that ended on a froud to the seller and my agency because they accepted, from the beginning, to do a short sale.
The I believe Bank of America own me my two years salary equal to about $320,000.00
Fred Romano
July 12, 2010 at 9:44 pm
LOL … good luck with that!
SteveBeam
July 14, 2010 at 12:24 am
Too much brain damage. They believe they are the only bank in this business and processing short sales. Other banks get them done in relatively quick order but Bank of America can’t get their head out of their butts long enough to see the light. I’ll never do business with them again.
Michael
July 15, 2010 at 5:52 pm
I think BOA only hires short sale staff that fails an IQ test. If they pass the IQ test they go to the REO department.
Don Egnor
July 22, 2010 at 8:08 am
Someone needs to look at Wells Fargo as well in all of this mess. I have horror stories from trying to do a loan mod on my primary residence (for over 2 years) and a short sale from another residence. The short sale home I had an offer for what they were selling for in the community ($120’s) and got 2 BPO’s back in the $160’s. This has been dragging on for months as well and ruining my credit…all the other credit we have is great! Now we get a letter from an attorney asking us/threats that they want the money for the 2nd mortgage, even though we are trying to short sale the home, and want to work out an agreement.
I would love to see more on here about peoples experiences with Wells Fargo and want to sue them if possible (I have a good case) or start a class action suit as well.
Augusta GA Homes
July 23, 2010 at 10:53 am
Obviously BoA has made an impact on the short sale market and many many agents, homeowners, buyers and many others that won’t soon forget their experience. We can only make a difference with BoA on what we all choose to do when looking for a lender or bank. Be lead……
DONA YOUNG
July 27, 2010 at 9:07 am
My husband lost his job last March. We decided to let our house go because we are both 66 yrs old, and not in good health. We have been trying to sell for the past two years, we owe more than its worth now. BOA said it was ok to sell on a short sell. Within three months we had three contracts on our house, one of them a cash deal. The buyers are tired of waiting to settle, and are ready to back out. If BOA loses these contracts, and we go into forcloser, we are going to try to sue, because our credit will be hurt more than a short sale.
John
July 27, 2010 at 7:48 pm
My complaint is not related to short sales but with the Benefits Team Protection Plan Services from Bank of America.
Borrowers/Life Protection Plan – Unemployment Benefit Activation Form
PO Box 25146, Santa Ana, CA. 92799-9910 Phone: 866 317-5116
Now I know where they get their training and supervision.
I don’t usually post on blogs, but I should done research before doing business with Bank of Aremika,
Let the Government keep bailing out more banks like Bank of America because the greedy ba***s needed more than I do.
My suggestion is don’t do business with this Bank… let it sink!!!
Karl
July 30, 2010 at 10:55 am
I am trying to purchase a short sale that is just not moving. Not sure who is at fault to be honest (BOA or the investor) but BOA seems to have egg on their face regarding other deals. Is there any regional data that exists that verifies that BOA is even processing them? I also wonder if a person has a loan through BOA, would it make sense for them to just stop paying on it, get it into the short sale process, then continue to live there for what might be years?? I think everyone (on here) has laid out the groundwork as to how to keep them from being approved, and how to get their file moved back to the bottom of the stack (assume it ever even moves up from the bottom). Makes me wish I had a BOA loan on my current house. Would it make sense for me to stay in my current house, get it refinanced through BOA, stop making payments, find and encourage an investor, arrange to get a short sale, keep my file on the bottom of their stack, and then live there for free?? Technically, could I just buy a new house as I want to do, but then send my old one through the short sale process at BOA and still potentially own it payment-free for years to come?
DebbiePeterson
August 18, 2010 at 11:47 am
I have had horrendous problems with BA on personal loan modifications and on an investment property they rejected 4 consecutive payments, made the same way for 4+ years and are now foreclosing for non-payment! This is after 80 hours of phone time and a file 3 inches thick. My Realtor and lawyer are rallying behind me to take this to the national media, as this is a problem they encounter regularly. Anyone got any suggestions as to whom to contact? The home in question is in San Antonio. I have phone records and call logs and copied correspondence for every contact with BA.
JB
August 27, 2010 at 9:55 pm
B of A the world’s worst. Buffoons on steroids is what they seem. I have about 5 listings where they are the lender and they are impossible.
JB
August 27, 2010 at 9:57 pm
B of A bufoons on steroids. What makes me mad is we bailed these people out and they still don’t want to help.
JB
August 27, 2010 at 9:59 pm
I have 5 listing where B of A is the lender, idiots on steroids.
Ramzi Silmi
October 2, 2010 at 6:11 pm
I am dealing with bank of america right know trying to buy a house and i been waiting for 7 months even that i am ready but they still not i am, ready to walk on the deal it is not right to call them BANK OF AMERICA they should change there name to BANK OF F>>>>*%^$.
J. Johnson
June 18, 2011 at 12:03 pm
I'm 4 weeks into buying a short sale with B of A and after reading all the letters I thinkI want out. I wonder how much of my deposit I will loose.
Charlotte
October 13, 2010 at 12:41 am
Bank of America should be shut down for causing a continual housing mess that could clear up if it weren’t for them. I have been trying for two years to get something, anything done. Loan mod, deed in lieu or short sale—all refused by Bank of A..s I have had 2 buyers. The first was when it was only under by 6,000 and they refused to accept. Now under by 80,000 and they are demanding I sign another “Note” to stick me with the amount they would lose if they agreed to a short sale plus pay them cash at closing. I am not doing anything anymore–let it be foreclosed. One site says Wash law states if a home is abandoned 6 months, the bank can’t go after any losses, including the second mortgage as it goes into foreclosure. Anyone know about this law?
Mike S.
October 14, 2010 at 9:18 pm
Why pull any punches with B of A? Let’s face it, they intentionally hire retards. PC stuff aside and let’s roll up our sleeves. These people have sent us all on a wild goose chase. They hire people that have zero human emotion. I had a negotiator tell me she has the approval and she’s emailing now via Equator. I told the buyers, she went dark on me for over 30 days. Out of the blue she calls me to tell me she has the approval. When I laughed and told her the buyers walked two weeks ago, she said “sorry, I had me a personal problem and no ones covered my desk”. Had another “closer” at B of A suggest that $10,000 will insure a “quick close and no promissory note, guaranteed”. I thought he was kidding until he said it three times and proved it by producing the approval 4 days later. So super corrupt, zero human emotion. This is clearly a designed slap in the face by B of A. Sorry for all of the retarded people out there, you’re much better then the rats that work for B of A. I know this email is offensive, but so is an abusive bank that is “too big to fail”! Prison for B of A executives now, hell later.
Lori Neighbors
November 9, 2010 at 2:44 pm
I fully agree with this post. Pure insanity. B/A does not have processes in place that will actually lead to a closing. B/A can take some of the responsibility for the housing crisis. If they would make the process simpler and hire people with half a brain they might be able to offload some of this inventory. Not to mention, how much money does it cost to drag these deals out. The deal will eventually fall apart, resulting in yet another sale at a mcuh lower price.
Why doesn’t B/A have upper management in place that will examine the process and adjust accordingly.
Does anyone in power at B/A care? Probably not. So, until then, we suffer through their cumbersome processes.
I think I can do brain surgery easier than actually closing a SS with Bank of I am retarded America.
Jason Opland - Obvious Choice Realty
May 9, 2011 at 3:28 pm
I have to say I disagree with this as my team and I specialize in short sales and assisting distressed homeowners and those facing foreclosure. We have been actively involved in this arena for over 5 years now and I find Bank of America to be one of the easier banks to work with and they are definitively one of the most proactive. Bank of America was one of the first to initiate the equator system system, a system most of the other banks are now jumping on board with over a year later. Bank of America's office of the president has also been very helpful in every instance that we've run into delays or problems with negotiators and other lower level employees. BofA has made numerous resources available to agents to assist them in their efforts to serve our clients however, many agents fail to utilize these systems and these agents who falsely claim to be short sale specialist are part of the problem! They do not know how to effectively manage or negotiate these transactions and fumble their way through the process… this is why their short sale success rates are in the 50% range where as experienced agents have success rates of 95% or more! The system is not perfect but this is a massive problem that is compounded by inexperienced professionals who falsely claim to be experts!
Jason Opland
Obvious Choice Realty – The Opland Group
Jodi
June 6, 2011 at 8:51 pm
I am currently trying to be a part of the HAFA program and have had one lame excuse after another. They send me to the wrong vendor, they don't get my faxes, blah, blah. All my personal info is floating around these "wrong places" including my tax and banking information.
I was told today they have one person uploading all the faxes that come in.
I have tried to cooperate I have been unemployed for 2 years and have done my best to keep up.
A friend spent 4 months trying to close on a BOA loan and finally gave up. My son is currently buying a BOA short sale. I'm terrified for him now. He needs to move due to the pending foreclosure of my home.
I saw there is a class action for loan modifications. We need one for their so called HAFA participation as well!
Seriously, to blame the Realtor is a joke they have training info on their site for short sales. I know the sales process having been a Realtor. They need nothing more than a valid PA and and proof buyers can preform. They are going through BPO's (Broker price opinion) after the sale instead of before, then they come back and say they have the right to raise the purchase price. They do not respond to buyer's agents and drag out the process for months. Buyers out of frustration walk away. All these short sales should be pre negotiated, end of story!
Ambrosia
June 20, 2011 at 1:36 pm
WOW…the comments are still ongoing after 2 years! Not surprising, considering what I've read about BoA.
I found a foreclosed home in my target area and, after some research at my local auditors office, located the bank that owns it. You guessed it, BoA. (Please note I have NO INTENTION of getting my loan through them! That part of these discussions I'm finding does not apply to me)
I've tried for hours to find a contact name and number for someone who can show me the property. Customer service was no help, local branches were not available and neither was the number listed as a contact office for my state.
Sounds to me like they not only wanna dick around those who have gotten loans with them, they're also not too interested in selling the properties they list for sale – strange for a bank known for greedy practices. Most other banks are chomping at the bit to unhand their REOs. (this bank has even sabotaged 2 of the sheriff auctions on this property, according to other homeowners in the neighborhood!)
BoA can kiss my ass! I'm at the point that I wouldn't buy the house if they offered to give it to me!
Ambrosia
June 20, 2011 at 1:52 pm
I feel I must revise my post, to avoid confusion. The home I am referring to has already gone through the foreclosure process and is currently bank-owned. It has sat empty approx. 2 years.
To Mr. Opland, I am familiar with your company, as it is owned by my brother-in-law's adopted brother (small world, eh?). If you are, indeed, experienced in moving quickly through BoA's process in a way that has maximum benefit to my family and guarantees that BoA could never claim the home again in the future, I would be happy to work with you.
Bofamisfit
August 12, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Hey! I work at B of A………….it's sad to read all of the comments above. It's also sad that most of it's true.
Pete
August 30, 2011 at 2:31 pm
Let me know if i can help. I work with a company that handles BOA short sales. pkelly@utls.com
Fred Glick
August 30, 2011 at 3:11 pm
Nice spam, Pete. This is a blog where ideas are shared. Not a place to put lame sales pitches.
Al Chanz
September 10, 2011 at 4:36 pm
Hello Russell,
Everything you said about BofA is factual. I dealt with them professionally for 10 years and they back-stabbed me time after time!
I tried helping a couple of out of work homeowners in structuring shortsale with BofA but they were like you said retarded. Hence, their loan/mortgage agents…clerks rather didn't know the most fundamental mortgage terms or procedures. While they use Asians and other ethnics on their ads they would discriminate against them at the same time. Moreover, they hire just enough minorities to fill the bill but none ever lasted.
One thing I'll have to correct you is that Wells Fargo does pay for homeowners insurance for most REO buyers; I've dealt with them for years. The closing cost is usually negotiable depending on the amount offered and yes they usually close and record within 15 to 45 days depending whether it is a cash or amortized deal.
NCC
September 29, 2011 at 9:06 pm
Wow! just spent the last 2 hrs reading these BOA Nightmares!
You guessed it the home we are looking at is a Short
Sale. Haven't made a offer yet but we are close to. Can you guess
who has the HOMe?? Yup "Bank of America " = Bumbs of America. The
good thing is my companys has large $ in their Banks, so When we
pull it out we will tell them exactly why. I'm even thinking of
printing out these stories and laying on the Managers Desk when
his jaw drops finding out Both Companys are withdrawing all monies.
This is crazy Since they say now they have stream lined the process recently? Hope all of you posting in 2010 and 2009 have found
nice homes and those on the otherside are doing well now and eventually
your short sales have gone thru. Has anyone heard since spring of 2011
these BOA short Sales getting done quicker?? like BOA is saying. Keep sending your stories it will eventually help some of us…….as I'm sure I will
learn and get some benefits from the ears many of you have screamed into
hopefully. 🙂
God Bless
NCC
dclarkfitness
October 13, 2011 at 11:53 am
I am currently in the process of buy a short sale property from BOA. It has now been almost 6 months and I am still getting the runaround from BOA. At the beginning of the process, they stated it should be about 2 months. The house has been empty for a year and continues to deteriorate while I sit with a pre-approved loan and money in the bank ready to close and begin renovations so I can relocate. The listing realtor (who specializes in short sales) is as frustrated as I am stating that this is the worst short sale proceeding he has ever seen. BOA keeps extending the acceptance date, offering hollow excuses. I now have a verbal acceptance, but I won't believe anything BOA says until I see it on paper.
ImNotaWitch
January 26, 2012 at 9:50 pm
I gotta wonder … BOA made an obscene loan to George Stephanopolis back in the days when he was in the White House … he bought some building at Dupont Circle and was shown favoritism.
Would the bad handling of these short sales be political? To help Obama and his minions crawl us all to socialism inch by inch?
I went to BOA when I first moved to Tampa to set up a checking account. The lovely (but utterly devoid of brains) child that took my information did NOTHING. I never got my checks. Never.
Makes ya wonder …