The short sale process at Chase Bank
When you process and negotiate short sales en masse like I do, you begin to notice specific trends. Usually the trends that I notice are not issues or policies that I read about on the Internet or learn about at local Realtor® Board meetings and classes. The trends that I am speaking about relate to policies employed in loss mitigation departments at the major lending institutions.
The other day I noticed another one of these trends. My staff and I have been working on quite a few short sales with Chase Bank. Chase (by the way) also includes EMC and now Washington Mutual.
Generally, when submitting a new short sale package to Chase, you prepare your traditional stack of documents and fax it over with a pretty little cover sheet to the fax number indicated by bank personnel. Then, you call back and you hope and you pray that your fax has been received and uploaded into their system.
Suddenly, in the last few weeks, when calling to confirm that faxes had been received and processed, the staff at Chase is now requesting a completed Short Sale Information Packet. So, in order to continue moving your short sale along, in addition to the standard documentation, Chase now has their own short sale documents.
I didn’t get a memo about this new policy. Did you? Did anyone from the Executive Offices call any of you to tell you that this customized package is now required? I’m actually wondering whether the package has always been required, but the staff on the phone perhaps didn’t know the drill but went to a meeting about the famed package just last week. Or, is it just me who missed out on this important part of the process? (I’ve never heard of the information packet before, but miraculously have closed tons of deals with Chase.)
When processing and negotiating short sales, I see the role of the processor as a shooter always aiming at a moving target. The rules change all the time; the target moves from the east to the west and then back again. Agents negotiating short sales are required to aim and hit that target in order to get the deal closed. Well, it would be a heck of a lot easier to hit the target, if they would stop moving the darn thing!
This post is intended to help you become more successful in hitting those moving targets. Here is the link to the Chase/EMC Short Sale Information Packet: Chase Short Sale Information Packet . Do yourself a favor and print it out. The next time you take a short sale listing and the mortgage lender is Chase, you may need to use this application. Or… you may not. It all depends on whether they move the target again. But, that’s okay. If they move the target, I’m sure they’ll give you jingle and let you know.
