Here is an interesting deal for al of you dealing with Chase Mortgage (As a second Mortgage). I had a lake front home which had appraised for $725K in 2006 listed and over 2 years reduced the price to $695K. I know…2 years…well it is a unique circumstance and lake for that matter so bear with me.

The Seller went into foreclosure and asked me to short sale it. The balance on the 1^st was just $350K with a second at $150K. Knowing that a lender will basically settle for 10 cents on the dollar I figured it was a slam dunk at $499K. Guess again.

I had an offer just 24 hours after posting the sale in our MLS. That was in late January. The seller wanted their attorney to negotiate the balance on th second as he had been told by someone at Chase that they would settle for $2K. Since I was getting them $85K I thought it was going to close almost immediately.

After 5 weeks back and forth between the attorney and Chase we were $13,000 short on the sale. The lender had issue with a 7% commission. We had to send a full short sale package to Chase despite the fact that it was a second.

Funny thing is the guy at Chase said this is a first mortgage (It didn't say 2^nd on the top of the mortgage). Lol. For those of you not in the know…a mortgage becomes a 2^nd or 3^rd based on when it was recorded, not based on what the document says. Basically the guy was clueless.

To make a long story longer I waited for the attorney to give up and I made a phone call to Chase. In one call I was able to get another $4500. I then asked for the supervisor and negotiated another $4,000. I (politely explained that they had no standing unless they planned to buy the first which I knew was not going to happen. I told them $85K was a gift.

The following day the buyer backed out due to this taking so long (5 weeks for an attorney and 1 day for me). I kept trying to get him to let me do it. Bottom line is an attorney had better things to do than negotiate a short sale. They usually end up fighting over a commission which they don't know how to address.

I was devastated but thought I better keep trying to get Chase to agree. If I could get an approval I would at least know what I could do on the next deal. After speaking to another supervisor I negotiate another half percent on the commission. In the end we were $3,400 apart which I agreed to conceed.

I faxed the approval to the other agent and he called me the next day. His buyer was back in and we closed the sale TODAY. It was a lot of stress but I got it done. In the end each broker made $12,998.

I left out a lot of detail here but the bottom line is don't give up. Ask to speak to the next guy if you have to. If they can't help as to speak to their supervisor and so on. Appeal to their ego and tell them what a hero they will be if they help this person, etc. In the end you will succeed.

Fell free to email with any questions at jules@julesyates.com.