San Jose Short Sale Agent: Silicon Valley Foreclosure Prevention Specialists

Here is an interesting article about how the BBB (Better Business Bureau) rated the major loan servicing companies which handle loan modification and short sales.  It’s was an interesting read for me because I was having a lot of difficulties recently with Chase, they have been ruthless and unreasonable in their demands, especially when they are in junior positions.  It used to be that Bank of America was the bank that everyone doing short sales bad mouthed; but my feeling was Chase was getting up there.

I was far from surprised to discover that Chase had received an “F”  from the consumers who were dealing with them.  The interesting fact is that Bank of America, which used to be at the bottom has now received an “A+”!  I can attest to this change  as well, because with the implementation of Equator into their short sale business and with their executive, Matt Vernon’s, committment to change the way they approached short sales,  their level or service and the speed with which they handle matters have changed  180 degrees.   They are one of the best to work with right now.

Another interesting point that the article tackles is the bait and switch loan mods that we are beginning to hear about.  Homeowners being strung out for months on these “temporary modifications” and while waiting (and paying) getting foreclosed on without notice.  At first, these instances sounded like anomalies, but the frequency of these instances is increasing; thereby indicating some sort of concerted effort rather than mere fluke incidents.

See what grade your loan servicer received.

http://www.shamethebanks.org/jorge/bbb-f-grades-to-chase-litton-ocwen

The announcement of HAFA in April was supposed to change the way we do our business for those of us who do a lot of short sales.  Not because it was supposed to revolutionize the way short sales were done, but because it was going to be the Federal Government stepping in and trying to standardize the process of how to complete a short sale.  In the lawless world of short sales, that was like a cool breeze on a hot sticky day: very much welcomed.

Many naysayers poo poo’ed the program, saying it was never going to fly and that lenders would not abide by the terms because it was not in their favor.  But you know, there always will be naysayers whose job it is to simply criticize any new idea that comes along which challenges the status quo.

Yes, there are still glitches in the system and many employees of banks do not understand or have not been trained in HAFA and we get to deal with a high percentage of them who are not helpful.  However, an announcement made last night will resonate and have long term impact on the dynamics of the distressed properties marketplace, in my opinion.

Matt Vernon, the executive in charge of short sales and REOs at Bank of America (BofA) announced that institution will now focus on short sales to liquidate their assets before they get into foreclosure.  “We’re going to do everything possible to liquidate property prior to foreclosure,” Vernon said. “REO will still be available, but we will do everything we can to do short sales.”   This is wonderful news for consumers as their underwater properties can be disposed of without having to be forced into foreclosure and devastating their credits.  This is also good for banks because industry surveys have shown that nets proceeds to banks are significantly higher when short sales are utilized as compared to REOs.  BofA is of course is still in the business of making money and has chosen a profitable method, but this method also benefits the homeowners as well. And with all of the loan modifications applications out there, and the unfortunate reality is that a large percentage of those loan modifications will default and end up on the foreclosure circuit.

Mr. Vernon has spoken previously and have been pushing for the notion of short sales taking a more prominent role at BofA. BofA was suffering  from backlash on their Loan Origination business as a consequence of them developing a notorious reputation in the short community as being difficult to work with.  This move will be followed by other banks in my opinion, like airlines follow and match fares when one major player comes out and takes a stand.

HAFA may not have lived up to the expectation people had about its efficacy in making  short sales easier to handle or process, but what it has done is provided an environment where a big player like BofA can come out and concentrate on short sales as a major tool to unload their real estate portfolio.  This move on the part of BofA has now pushed short sales out of the niche market and pushed it into the mainstream, making it easier for consumers to get short sale approval, and hopefully quicker too. Now here is truly a win-win solution for all involved parties.

I was fortunate enough this morning to sit in and listen on a webinar set up by Bank of America.  It was their effort to explain how they would better handle short sales from here on out.   The webinar was hosted by Matt Vernon, executive in charge of REO and Short Sales, for Bank of America with over 10,000 Realtors listening in who specialize in short sales.   He was the man in charge.

It was interesting to hear that they are focusing on dramatically  improving their short sale process because they want to re-establish their relationship with Realtors to strengthen their ties with us on their mortgage origination front . Apparently, there has been a lot of negative repercussion on  their mortgage origination front during this important time, when buyers are trying to buy properties to take advantage of the Federal Tax Credit. He emphasized this point at the beginning of the presentation and again at the end of the presentation.

They have re-defined the customer in their view of the short sale process. It is no longer, solely the investor, but the new definition includes:

1. Distressed homeowner
2. Listing Agent
3.  Buyer’s Agent
4. Investor

This was the order he placed  the various interested parties.  (Hmmm.  I wonder if their participation in the HAFA Program had anything to do with this?)

Then he went into full detail explaining how they are utilizing Equator to process short sales and how successful it has been for them from in the past few months from their own measurements.   I can attest to this fact.

This presentation today obviously was to address the negative image that Bank of America is suffering right now from Realtors who specialize in Short Sales.  However,  it was very refreshing for this huge organization to come out and pro-actively admit they have a problem and lay out what they are going to do to do as an institution to address the problem.   But most importantly, in my opinion,  learning that they are doing this because they are suffering on their loan origination side as a result of this bad publicity.

Call me old fashioned, but I always try to get to the root cause of why people or institutions change their behavior.  In this case, apparently, it is because of the money they are losing on the origination front.  This makes it real and insures Bank of America will follow through and live up to its announcement.   After all, it is about them making more money.