Bank of America is making positive strides with Short Sales
I have closed a lot of short sales. Specifically, I have closed numerous Bank of America short sales. My team and I have personally experienced the worst of the Bank of America when short sales were languishing in short sale purgatory for 12 months. We were there during Countrywide’s purchase by Bank of America. We were there during the transition to the Equator technology platform and we have personally experienced a positive evolution and optimization of Bank of America short sales. We have closed Bank of America HAFA short sales and Streamlined Cooperative Short Sales. Below are a few of our Bank of America blog posts that have received thousands of comments and discussions.
- Bank of America and Equator (Formerly REOTrans)…Short Sale Nirvana?
- Bank of America formerly Countrywide short sale process streamlined?
- Bank of America Implements HAFA on Equator for Short Sales
- Bank of America formerly Countrywide New Short Sale Policies and Guidelines
- Bank of America formerly Countrywide NEW NEW Short Sale Process…REOTrans.com
- Bank of America Implements Equator formerly REOTrans Platform for Short Sales
- New Short Sale Guidelines Encourage Sweeping Changes to Short Sale Process
- Bank of America Pilot Tests New Cooperative Short Sale Program
- Bank of America Short Sales Streamline Back Up Offers
In the past few months we have experienced a significant positive step forward in short sale processing by Bank of America. We are getting short sales approved in 3 to 4 weeks with Bank of America and have been increasingly optimistic about their commitment to continue to streamline their systems and processes.
Recently, I attended a presentation by Bob Hora, Senior Vice President of Mortgage Servicing, at Bank of America. Bob is new to Bank of America and has executive experience working at Fannie Mae, GMAC and Wells Fargo. During this presentation it was clear that Bank of America is making a significant investment in foreclosure alternative programs such as short sales. Bank of America does not want to foreclose on property and neither do their investors who own the mortgages.
Bob threw out some staggering numbers regarding Bank of America short sales. In 2009 Bank of America closed 40,000 short sales, 90,000 closed in 2010. In 2011, Bank of America will exceed 100,000 closed short sales! Many think that short sales may be going away, however Bank of America is preparing to close an estimated 170,000 short sales in 2012! That is an enormous 70% increase from 2011.
Bank of America is executing a multi-pronged approach to ensure the 170,000 short sales in 2012 close as efficiently and quickly as possible. A critical component is with targeted solicitations and outreach to homeowners in distress and present them with foreclosure alternatives. Bank of America has created the Home Transition Guide and a very informative website dedicated to homeowners in distress @ bankofamerica.com/hometransition. This new Home Transition Guide and new website is designed to educate and empower the customer to know their options and prevent a foreclosure.
Bank of America is committed to streamlining the short sale process for both the customer and the customers qualified Realtor:
- Keep the agent and customer informed
- Streamline the short sale process & timelines
- Increase short sale approval rates
- Assign specialists earlier in the process
- Constant communication with agent
- Commitment of increased staff for short sales
- Over 3,000 short sale staff including a dedicated call center
- Customer relationship modeling and single point of contact at BofA that will be with customer through the entire short sale process.
- BofA SLA – Service Level Agreement: 2 day response time goal or Realtor has a right to escalate.
- Implemented a Closing Center of Excellence in Chandler Arizona. This group’s sole purpose is to close short sales.
- Expanding staffing and aligning by investor type
- Dedicated Customer Call Center
- Improve the quality of service and performance of Bank of America short sale vendors
Step up Education and Community Services
- Foreclosure prevention education
- Awareness of community services
- In-market support and outreach
- Added 45 Customer Assistance Centers in Cities where customers can go in to get help with foreclosure alternatives
- New Home Transition Guide and website to empower the customer with viable foreclosure alternatives.
Bob Hora also discussed a few key reasons why short sales do not close including:
- Homeowner disengagement
- Foreclosure timeline – HAFA and Streamline short sales will postpone the foreclosure
- Short sale cycle times
- Multiple investors, lien holders and mortgage insurance companies can derail a short sale
- Fraud checks & policies – NEW
Bank of America also has made significant enhancements to their Equator short sale platform adding a Value Reconsideration Process where they can take a second look at valuations and get a quicker response to Realtors. Another critical piece is the ability to submit a new offer/ buyer without the short sale filing closing.
In addition to all of these changes Bob outlined three new streamlined stages to short sale problem resolution:
Short sale problem resolution 3 stages:
- Contact your short sale specialist thru Equator. Response in 2 days
- Escalate to team lead in Equator. Response in 2 days
- Short sale customer care 1.866.880.1232. Staff of 800 people dedicated to short sale customer care.
- Short Sale Super Team. Team of 120 people just to handle escalations. These are the best short sale specialists Bank of America employs.
Overall, I was very please with the message Bob Hora conveyed regarding Bank of America’s commitment to streamline the short sale process. We have already experienced many of the changes first hand and look forward to continued postitive progress from Bank of America.
