Although I've been staying away from Real Estate lately, I occasionally get phone calls from old friends who are still in the business.
I received a couple of calls this week from old clients asking for advice. I guess they have me in their phone book under Ask Lili. Ha ha.
Here's one question that I get asked A LOT! Should I stop paying my mortgage?
Are you kidding me?? Do they honestly think that I'm going to say yes to that question? In my opinion, no one should ever just simply stop paying their mortgage because "other people are doing it."
I'm not talking about those who are suffering true financial hardship and cannot make the payments on their home. If someone doesn't have the money then they don't have the money. There's no question of whether they should pay or not pay because they CAN'T pay.
There are others who are stuck with an ARM (adjustable rate mortgage) and their payments have skyrocketed or the association fees have tripled and they don't have enough money to make those payments.
Instead of going through a foreclosure, these people have an option which is to sell their home via the short sale process. The decision of going through a short sale is a very personal one and all I'm saying is that it is an option.
(A short sale is when a homeowner sells his or her home for an amount less than what is owed to the bank which requires approval from the lender.)
I like to compare top mortgage lenders to big publishing houses who are slow to change with the times.
Two years ago, I was negotiating a short sale for a customer who was losing her condo. I presented the offer to Bank of America along with all required paperwork and it took them 6 months to accept it. By the time BOA accepted, the buyer's agent notified me that their client had grown tired of waiting and walked. Can you blame them?
Immediately, I placed the condo back on the market and within days I had an identical offer. I presented it to BOA as a substitute. Bank of America closed our file and said, "If the name is different, you have to start the process all over again and open a new file."
We opened a new file. Months and months passed, the buyer walked. New offer. The condo was vacant, closed up for a year. Guess what happens to a first floor condo on the water in the Florida heat? MOLD! No buyer for a condo filled with mold. Foreclosure proceedings...a nightmare!
I don't need to tell you how this bank was shooting itself in the foot because they were so slow to change with the times.
On 7/11/11 - only days ago, I received this email from Bank of America:
"As an example of our commitment to improving the short sale process, Bank of America now allows real estate agents to submit a backup offer on a transaction if the original buyer has walked away from the sale. This means you will no longer have to initiate a new short sale."
Are you kidding me? LOL
The bright side is that even though it took them years, they are coming around, slowly but surely. In my opinion the big publishing houses are similar to big lenders in their slow to change mentality.
What do you think? I would love to hear from you!
Lili Tufel
Thank you so much for supporting SAND!
