RealTown's RealTalk

There's been a huge shift. Countrywide has now cancelled 3 sales on us in the last couple of days.

First of all, I used to be a fan of CW's short sale process. Something horrible has happened lately. Bailout?

Of the three they've cancelled:

One, because they didn't like the offer submitted , yet they didn't offer a courtesy call or counter. Just file closed, you can resubmit to start the process over if you get a new offer.

Two, because the buyer walked . Countrywide is the second and they are closing the file for the buyer name only, nothing has changed, net to them is same.

Three, we had a short sale approval. Buyers appraisal did not come in to value. Countrywide is second. Buyer had to walk. New buyer comes in, no change in net to Countrywide, buyer name change only.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH COUNTRYWIDE?

Did the bailout make them want to foreclose? 2 of the properties above will foreclose in December as the 1st lenders will wait no longer.

On #2 and #3 above I tried in vain to get in touch with my original negotiator. Not even the courtesy of a return call or email.

The reps are condescending and patronizing.

I'm sick of making excuses for these banks that their decisions "make no sense." THEY HAVE TO MAKE SENSE! These are the lives of their own borrowers they're screwing with and despite what they say on the news - THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT THEIR BORROWERS.

Yes, I'm mad, because despite ever hoop they had us jump thru - we did it - gladly. We did everything they asked. We went thru their process being cheerful and thankful. Until , they decide to arbitrarily cancel a deal. Why cancel a deal for a name change? Why not at least a counter offer if it was needed? How about a courtesy call to give us a chance to rectify that problem before they close the file.

I asked the rep who was in charge of Loss Mitigation, she said they don't have anyone.

I asked who her manager was, she wouldn't tell me or transfer me.

I asked to talk to the negotiator, she wouldn't transfer me.

So I intend to take these complaints to the press and to federal regulators.

If you've had a similar seemingly arbitrary cancellation of a Countrywide short sale in the last month.. let me know.

I used to be a fan of Countrywide, but what they are doing now is HURTING CUSTOMERS, their customers, their borrowers. But to me, these are my clients charged with loosing their jobs, health, homes and dignity. Countrywide, by their actions, show they absolutely have no regard for this.

On the two cancelled for buyer name changes, if we were also asking them to take less money, I could see their point, but for a buyer name change? This is ludicrous, shameful and should be illegal. They should be on point to help their borrowers avoid foreclosure - not send them to the dungeon.

Catherine Myers, REALTOR

GRI, CRS, ABR, SRES

Alain Pinel Realtors

1646 No. California Blvd., Suite 101

Walnut Creek, CA 94596

925-683-2125 cell

925-465-1593 fax

www.DiabloValley.net

a Countrywide (CW) rep in the house? A rumour has been circulating here that certain CW short sales will no longer be approved. It has to the with the involvement of a third party vendor associated with CW. Can anyone shed light on this? If not, I'll assume the rumour is not true.>>>

I'm beginning to think this is true as they are closing our files left and right as I indicated. Course before this B of A was one of the worst to deal with, so maybe they just have CW following suit. I want to know which federal or state regulators have authority. I called the CW company main number to lodge a complaint and they are as worthless as their reps who answer the phone.

Catherine Myers, REALTOR

GRI, CRS, ABR, SRES

Alain Pinel Realtors

1646 No. California Blvd., Suite 101

Walnut Creek, CA 94596

925-683-2125 cell

925-465-1593 fax

www.DiabloValley.net

www.CCShortSales.com

 

 

 

Actually does not surprise me about Countrywide, but I feel your pain Catherine.

I have long felt that something needed to be done to make the lenders liable in some way for their actions. So often it has been a nasty ride with some lenders. In CO it has only been in the last few years that the lenders were required to be licensed to do business. Prior to that anyone could claim they could do mortgages, and so often they would let the loan conditions come and go with no response to letters or emails or phone calls from their borrower or the REALTORs. One went on vacation-right through the closing date!!!!! She never even turned the file over to anyone. The fact the buyer lost earnest money did not concern her at all.

I have had my fill of them getting off scott-free when they tear up people's lives. Perhaps NAR could lobby both federal and state governments to change this somehow. The lenders should AT LEAST be liable for the earnest money if they lose it for the buyer by ignoring the loan conditions deadline, and maybe damages if the buyer has moved thinking it was approved. We all know that usually if a deal goes south, it is the lender. I refuse now to deal with any but a Colorado lender. I really grill my buyers on the importance of a Colorado lender and a local lender is much preferred over a Denver lender. Some Denver lenders are good, but an awfully lot of them do not care.

In July I had a CA Wells Fargo lender who failed to fund the day of closing (a Friday) until too late to be posted to the bank. When I printed out the communication, it was PAGES long. She had forwarded over to me, along with her errantly jubilant note that it had funded (after 5PM CO time), all the dialogue between herself and the funding dept. from that day. EVEN that day the funding dept person was stating she had had her doubts about the loan "all week". Their borrowers were sitting in front of the house with their moving van-all from CA and Wells Fargo didn't know if they were going to make the loan??? It funded the following Monday, the buyers were able to get in the house on Friday, but I could not believe what I read in that communication between the loan officer and the funding department. I had it in writing they would fund the day of closing and the funding dept had not made up their mind even on the day of closing??? They were shocked that we were closing at 10AM that day. She wanted to know: Who told us we could do that??? The loan officer gave the Title co everything we needed to close, papers were signed and the funding dept had not said okay. It was unbelievable. And this from a 3 loan officer team who had won awards through Wells Fargo. Yeah right.

Juanita R. Williams

Rifle, Co

 

I think it is the sheer magnitude of the problem that is overwhelming the mortgage industry in terms of personnel qualified to handle either foreclosure or short sale. If you have been hired to go through a series of steps triggered by delinquency in order to liquidate these bad loans from the company portfolio, and you expect to be evaluated on the basis of how quickly and expeditiously you achieve this objective, a short sale proposal is a distraction. You are not in a position to weight cost benefit of the alternatives, you just move forward doing what you were hired to do.

 

It sounded appealing with Senator McCain and others proposed that the government simply buy all of the bad mortgages and negotiate a resolution. But again the sheer magnitude of the problem plus the complexity of deciding which bad loan should be bought so a homeowner could stay in their home and which one should not because it was owned by an investor or for a variety of other reasons, made the idea impossible to implement.

 

I believe some form of emergency assistance to homeowners who are truly in trouble due to circumstances beyond their control, i.e., loss of job, medical emergencies, inability to refinance an ARM or face skyrocketing payments beyond their ability to pay, could turn for short-term assistance. The assistance might come in the form of government guaranteed refinancing at market rates or capitalization of the interest due and restructuring of the loan to get it in a manageable current condition. This would be no small task and it would require properly trained personnel to make the necessary judgments but it would be preferable to the market being flooded with foreclosed homes that drive resale prices down and pull more and more homeowners into the flood.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Short Sales (or should I say welcome to Short Sale Hell). When dealing with the mortgage companies, take all the common sense you have, wad it up into a great big ball and then throw that common sense ball out of your window, or into a lake, because common sense and mortgage companies do not mix.>>>

I used to do what you state above, and I've done dozens of short sales, so I "get it." But what they are doing is not reasonable, and is not in the best interests of their customers NOR their communities. So I don't buy that crap anymore that we have to throw common sense out the window. I'm not going to let them off the hook that easy, it has to make sense. They are in the business to make sense. So its more than a bit patronizing to say 'oh there there little realtor, this is just the way it is... ' I'm sick of it. Anyone else? They do the things they do because realtors like you and others give them excuses and allow them to do it. Their own publicly posted code of ethics (CW that is) says they will do what is in the best interests of their customers and community and clearly their actions speak louder than words, they have ZERO interest in their customers. ZERO. So what's wrong with calling them on it and complaining to state and local regulators about it? As long as we all stay quiet and accept it as "their way" it will continue. Let's challenge them to make sense. Let's challenge them to uphold their own code of ethics.

Catherine Myers, REALTOR

GRI, CRS, ABR, SRES

Alain Pinel Realtors

1646 No. California Blvd., Suite 101

Walnut Creek, CA 94596

925-683-2125 cell

925-465-1593 fax

www.DiabloValley.net

www.CCShortSales.com