Bank of America has streamlined short sales…again
My team and I have had a very long relationship with Bank of America processing almost a hundred short sales with them. We have been through the dark days when they acquired Country Wide and we were pioneering short sales and the short sale process. Bank of America has come a very long way since then and they have worked hard to streamline a horribly inefficient process.
First it was the fax nightmare as they transitioned their inbound fax service to India. I think that was the pinnacle of the Bank of America short sale nightmare waiting 3 weeks to find out if they received your paperwork only to find out they did not and you would have to re-submit and wait another 3 weeks. This process usually went on for several months until a negotiator finally gave you their direct fax line.
The best thing Bank of America did to streamline the short sale process was to standardize and transition the short sale process onto the Equator system. Once this occurred the world of short sales with Bank of America had a glimmer of hope. Bank of America then participated in the HAFA program and began pre-approving short sales by doing all of the paperwork, market analysis and investor approval upfront. It greatly simplified the process for primary homeowners.
Bank of America’s Streamlined Cooperative Short Sale program is by far the best thing since sliced bread. One piece of documentation for a seller to sign, no deficiency judgement, pre-approval on price and 24 hour turn around on offers…AWESOME!! This pilot program and is still being rolled out in a slow trickle.
Recently, Bank of America has committed to make yet one more significant change in the short sale process…Back Up Offers. This is HUGE. I can not tell you how many times we had a buyer fall through days before we get final approval on a Bank of America short sale after tediously working the offer for 4 months. In the past, the file would be closed and you would have to start completely over. We and other agents would try every trick in the book to sneak a new offer in with the same terms. It was usually a fruitless effort and the process would have to start all over with a new negotiator and endure another long and arduous negotiation.
Recently, Bank of America has listened to Realtor feedback and is now allowing back up offers to be presented when a buyer backs out of a contract. The Bank of America short sale negotiator will continue to work the file and the short sale process will continue as seamless as possible. This is a BIG deal! This saves months and months of work and ultimately will increase the success rate of Bank of America short sales.
Bank of America continues to work only one offer at a time. A new back up offer can be presented under the following scenario:
- The original buyer walked out during the short sale process and you have a backup offer ready to submit from a new buyer.
- The is a change in the buyer’s name during the process. This happens all the time due to financing issues or buying under an LLC or Trust.
- The original sh0rt sale offer was declined for being insufficient and you have a backup offer that can be submitted.
Bank of America will give you 14 days to complete the paperwork and tasks with the new offer. If you are a buyer jumping in as a backup offer…make sure you submit and respond to all document requests immediately as time is of the essence.
This new process Bank of America has implemented may seem like a small change, but it is a massive benefit for all parties involved in a short sale with Bank of America.
Good luck and lets keep processing those short sales!
I am a buyer who has been waiting for more than five months for a response to a full price cash offer on a short sale house from BOA. The listing agent is not proactive at all, often refusing to answer or return my agent’s phone calls or to call the bank to see where we are in the process. I’m about to give up, but I strongly suspect that the listing agent is hoping I’ll do that and has another buyer waiting in the wings. What are my options?