Short Sale - Week 2

This is Part 2 of an on-going series documenting my most recent experience attempting to use Bank of America's Equator system to complete a short sale. You can find earlier posts in this series at:

Short Sale - Week 1

November 19, 2010:

• Equator sends me a message acknowledging receipt of the offer. It also tells me the file has been sent to their Valuation Department. This department will be contacting me for access to the property. Until an appraisal has been completed, the file can not move forward.
• Equator sends me a message from Merna, the negotiator assigned to this file. In this email, Merna requests I send copies of the seller's hardship letter, last 2 pay stubs, and 2008 and 2009 tax returns. I assume Merna will use this information to decide if B of A should allow the seller to move forward with the short sale. I know the seller already submitted these documents to B of A and asked Merna to check the bank's file. She explains that she can only see documents submitted through Equator.
• I contact the seller to let her know I need to resubmit the documents.

November 20, 2010

• I meet with the seller, get the documents requested by Merna, and scan them into Equator.
• I email Merna to let her know the documents are now in her system.

November 22, 2010

• Merna calls to let me know she has received the documents but has not yet reviewed them. She repeats that nothing can be done until the property is appraised by the valuation team. I tell her that I have not been contacted by the valuation team for access to the property. She seems surprised, since her system says the valuation is in process. She assures me I will hear from them shortly.

November 24, 2010

• I receive a call from the Valuation Department to schedule an appraisal on November 29.
• I email Merna to let her know the appraisal has been scheduled.
• I prepare a list of comparable sales for the appraiser.

Analysis - Days 8-14:

The first glitch surfaces - because Equator does not cross reference files with B of A, it means extra work for the seller and agent, since documentation requested by B of A needs to be resubmitted to Equator. Equator should be able to automatically download these documents into their file.

On the plus side, communication with the negotiator is much easier than in the past. Prior to Equator, there was never a single contact person for the file. Every time you called the short sale department, you spoke with a different person who was looking at your file on their screen for the first time.

In contrast, I have Merna's direct phone number and email. She is extremely polite and friendly and she is completely familiar with the file.

I was impressed that, even though she can't do anything with the file until the appraisal is completed, Merna asked for documentation now so I can work on getting it to her while she works on getting the appraisal scheduled. I am impressed that she is "planning ahead".

In the past, negotiators were harried and rushed because they were overloaded with files. I have the feeling B of A has hired more negotiators.

Hint:

Ask your negotiator what documents you will be required to provide in the future so you can start getting the paperwork together now. That way, when they are requested, you can submit them immediately, thus speeding up the approval process.