Fort Worth Texas, A Countrywide call center has just hired 100 additional personal to handle the increasing amount of short sale and loan modification requests. This whilst massive layoffs from the lending and wholesale division.

Further, As of October the 1^st the current short sale procedures are revamped to handle short sales with increasing efficiency.

Each short sale negotiator is to be backed by a team of 5 support staff. No direct phone numbers will be available to the Real Estate agent. However, please refer to a back door I exposed on http://../../blogsview/218882/Countrywide-Short-Sale-Secrets

This procedure I was informed will still be available. Is the new procedure a good thing?

I believe so, however, today as I was working on a short sale I was informed by countrywide they would call me within the next 24 hours. Questions arise, will I be available, Will they call back if I am unable to take the call. Or will I have to call back to schedule another call. If you have ever waited for the cable guy, or worse (in Las Vegas) southwest gas, they like to leave a window of about half a day for the visit.

Good time for the home based agent to catch on files, prospect or at least blog.  I can foresee, providing we are available to drop everything we are doing and take the call, the new countrywide system will work effectively. That of course is if the Real Estate agent is prepared to risk stubbing as they run to the phone!

http://www.erealestateexec.com/archives/august

Short sales can be a time consuming proposition, they aren't worth messing with. Ugh, why would I tie up my buyer on a short sale? right now its tough to get a qualified prospect as it is. reduce my commission? forget it I'm worth more. Was going to write an offer then I noticed it was a short sale.

Valid concerns from realtors across the country.

Sure, short sales can be time consuming and if you're not versed in them, do the smart thing: refer it out to an agent who works them all the time. You will be doing the homeowner an injustice by taking on the file if your not motivated to spend the effort or have the know how and resources to reach a successful close.

Why tie up the buyer on a short sale? Buyers do not have to be tied up on short sales for weeks and months. Create a clause in your purchase agreement allowing the buyer to cancel the transaction at any reasonable time prior to the lien holder's acceptance of the offer to accept less than is owed. Buyers have the best of both worlds, they can continue to search for another home, the short sale listing agent should embrace this type offer as it gets the ball rolling faster with the mortgage company.

In many cases no escrow money needs to be deposited and the property can stay on the market as available, looking for a higher offer. Make sure your contract spells out in detail all the ‘what ifs'

As a listing agent who specializes in short sales I always offer out the full commission and encourage all other short sale listing experts to do the same, you will receive way more in referal business by practicing giving rather than taking. Trust me on this one, my numbers prove it.

However, as a buyers agent,you may not be as lucky to encounter the giver. In cases such as these, now's a great time to bring out the buyers brokerage agreement! Have the buyer pay the difference of your expected 3% fee. Explaining to the buyer the short sale process and the possible reduced home price the buyer is able to obtain, may be at your expense and they need to cover it.

This can be done at closing, or if the buyer is cash poor, take the difference in an interest bearing note. (Check with your broker first)

If this doesn't work for you tell the listing agent you would like to be compensated the full 3% prior to showing the property. The worst that can happen is they say no. The listing agent is more likely to deal with you prior to a showing than when a buyer is ready to make an offer.

So you got a short sale with Countrywide, you get assigned a case worker. a telephone number with an extension is given.... They don't answer, you leave a detailed message and wonder if they really are getting the whole thing.

Here's how to get through.

In the spirit of sharing...

Get the correct spelling of your workout persons name, First and Last.

email them Firstname.Lastname@countrywide.com

Remember  to use the period between first name last name. If you want to get fancy use a read receipt option from your outlook account.

Use the loan number and owners last name in the subject line

Make sure your return phone number is easily displayed, you will get a response every time.

Good Luck!

and keep saving the homeowners one deal at a time

Chris Giddings

http://www.erealestateexec.com/archives/august

In the spirit of sharing: The following strategy was implemented to get a workout loss mitigation person to return a phone call.

Circumstances of the sale were typical, fair market price offer, buyer threatening to walk and emotions of most parties running high.

A google search was performed discovering the name of securities company  behind the deal. A phone call was made starting from the top of the securities company list of C.E.O. down until a sympathetic ear was found with the C.F.O.

The circumstances of the sale and the pending trustee foreclosure sale were explained, it was also made very clear that unless an answer was given the securities companies investors would ultimately would be taking the loss. The smart CFO made a few phone calls and like magic in less than 30 minutes the Workout person was on the phone with me.

 A few flimsy excuses were delivered to me, and I went along with the excuses knowing it was important for them to save face and get the deal closed.

The following day the short sale approval letter was issued. The buyers closed, the securities company saved the investors further loss, the home owner avoided a foreclosure and possibly the workout person got an internal workout. Along with that the foreclosure statistics were decreased by 1, and that is all we can do, save them one at a time.

Not so long ago, or at least it seems that way, lets say 10 years. Applying for home loan took a common sense approach. The borrower met with the lender, the full factual credit report was pulled, and discussion concerning negative items addressed.

Most outstanding collections had to be paid prior to a loan closing.

Income and employment was verified, the file was reviewed by an underwriter, an actual human being, conditions were given prior to the commitment of a loan, if the conditions were met the loan documents were drawn, prior to funding conditions were often handled in escrow, and the loan closed.

The approach was common sense and the human element was a critical part of the loan process.

F.I.C.O. hadn't really reached the main stream. In fact the general public didn't have knowledge of a F.I.C.O score, nor did they need to.

Then F.I.C.O credit scoring system reared its ugly head. The human element started to whittle away, automatic underwriting was next.

The process of obtaining a home loan became automated, Lenders realized they were able to fund loans faster and common sense wasn't common any more.

As positive of an impact Fair Isac & Co has had at times on our credit based economy, I believe has also been a major catalyst that created a monster that leaving a trail larger than a herd of frightened stampeding elephants. The million plus foreclosed former homeowners are following the trail carrying the proverbial bucket and shovel.

I suggest that before we go forward we take a step back and look at what worked.

Lets bring the human element back to the lending institutions, let's see collection accounts settled prior to loans being funded, income verified, down payments verified with a strict source of funds and the underwriters replacing computers.

Fair Isac and Co is a great product using calculations logarithms and algebraic equations determining the chances the homeowner will repay the debt.

The lending institutions placed all the faith in the math and very little in the person. After all isn't that who is borrowing the money? Come on people wake up to this, we are going the wrong way and the F.I.C.O scoring system is failing.

Hillary will establish a $1 billion fund to support state programs that help at-risk borrowers avoid foreclosure.

Providing of course she gets elected.

Some say, why interfere with the market, what message does this give to the speculators who used sub prime money? Is it saying, its ok jump in levarage yourself and if things go wrong the goverment will help?

Or is it saying we really care about the victims?

This is just one part of her 8 step plan