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Category Archives: Short Sale Assistance Desk (SSAD)
Avoiding the Dirty Dozen Barriers to Short Sale Success
Posted by on January 16, 2013
Following is another good article from the KCM folks that will help you experience success with Short Sales. Though written for consumers, use it to develop your own expertise. When you read the last tip (#12), this is where the Short Sale Assistance Desk (SSAD) fits in for Fannie Mae properties. For more info on that, click HERE.
Short sales often take three times longer than a traditional transaction and sometimes never close at all. By hiring an agent who knows to avoid these twelve barriers, the process can be less stressful.
1.) Poor short sale candidate
- Establish objective criteria
- Conduct an extensive interview with homeowner
- Ascertain seller is motivated and cooperative
2.) Agent lacks familiarity with the lender’s requirements and procedures to complete the short sale
- Harvest and maintain lender and investor guidelines
- Secure individual forms required for each lender/servicer
3.) Title exam not obtained in the beginning
- Identifies individuals on deed and mortgages
- Determines all lien holders
4.) Incomplete package submitted to the lender/servicer
- Focus on the quality of the package at time of submission
- Detail orientation is critical
- All docs completely executed
- Complete package allows process to flow faster
5.) Short sale not begun prior to receiving a contract to purchase
- Adds 30 to 60 additional days
- Lender never looks at buyer contract until seller candidate is approved and market value has been determined
6.) Complete package not maintained throughout the short sale process
- Must keep all required homeowner financial information current and forwarded to the servicer every 30 days
7.) Lack of communication with the lender
- Most negotiators overwhelmed by the number of individual cases they are working on
- Misunderstandings, loss of documents, and/or lack of familiarity with files are very common
- Agent must continue to follow-up with the servicer twice a week to reduce unnecessary delays
8.) Poor record keeping /documentation by agent
- High probability of changes in processing personnel
- New person often lacks familiarity with case.
- Has to rely on the quality of notes in the file
- Information is often lost or missing
- Agent’s role is to help fill in the gaps
9.) Professional relationship with the negotiator never established
- Stressful environment
- Lots of frustration
- Lack of respect and trust are common
- Begins with building rapport
- Can be a big game changer
10.) Failure to meet BPO/Appraiser at the listing
- Without a detailed inspection of the property inside and outside the value will be distorted
- Meeting BPO at property provides great opportunity to share information that might not otherwise be discovered
11.) Fair market value dispute
- Common in most markets
- Negotiators lack current relevant information on most markets
- Forced to make decisions based on the data provided by BPO and information in the lender package
- Agent must be willing to provide additional current, detailed, relevant information (ie. local market, economy, demographics, and property condition) that can have an effect on value.
12.) Failure to “escalate” to higher authority when communication breaks down
- Escalation is part of the short sale process
- Escalating to a supervisor can be the key to moving forward
- Upper levels of every lender’s short sale department are working toward one goal– avoiding another foreclosure
Avoiding these dozen pitfalls will increase your odds of success while reducing everyone’s time and stress.
MRED’s Hunger for Innovative Technology is No Game
Posted by on March 22, 2012
MRED’s Director of Special Projects is a finalist for SearchCIO IT Awards. Click HERE to read our latest Press Release.
Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) Offering Nationwide Assistance with Short Sales
Posted by on January 12, 2012
MRED is committed to helping real estate professionals address short sale issues. As part of our efforts, we have developed a web-based solution we use and have offered to other MLSs across the country. Agents can simply go to a Short Sale Assistance Desk website and get help to resolve short sale transactions where the sellers are waiting for approval of the sales contract from the loan servicer. Click HERE to read all about it in our latest Press Release.
The Public Face of the Multiple Listing Service
Posted by on November 7, 2011
MRED has a public face – click HERE to read all about it in our latest Press Release!
Short Sale Closes Thanks to New Assistance Program Offered by Midwest Real Estate Data
Posted by on June 13, 2011
Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) announced the first successful short sale closing which resulted from its joint effort with Fannie Mae’s Short Sale Assistance Desk. The Assistance Desk provides brokers and agents the ability to significantly shorten the time they have to wait for approval from Fannie Mae on short sale transactions. It helps real estate professionals with the handling of post-contract issues such as loan servicer responsiveness, the existence of a second lien or issues involving mortgage insurance.
For real estate agent Diana Jones of Keller Williams Fox Valley Realty in St. Charles, her short sale experiences had been very frustrating.
“I’ve been doing short sales for years,” said Jones. “Nearly every transaction has been difficult. My observation of the process has been there is little cooperation from the lenders or loan servicers, and I base that on their lack of responsiveness and inexperience as negotiators. My biggest concern always is that my sellers may fall into foreclosure. It is a huge challenge to keep these deals together.”
It was with agents like Jones in mind that MRED recently went live with its Fannie Mae Short Sale Assistance Desk. By collecting and submitting information via a streamlined service provided through MRED, Fannie Mae has the data to help improve valuations and make quicker decisions regarding short sale requests. Previously, gaining an approval to proceed with a short sale transaction could take months. The Assistance Desk expedites the process so that a real estate professional will receive an initial response within days confirming that the case has been reviewed.
Jones had been representing sellers on a home in the western suburbs. They received an offer that was acceptable to them and they submitted it to the sellers’ lender for approval as a short sale. Despite repeated contacts, for months Jones and her sellers received very little response from the lender even though an auction date was only weeks away. When MRED went live with the Fannie Mae Short Sale Assistance Desk, Jones jumped on it and submitted this transaction.
“Once I submitted, Fannie Mae contacted me within two days, and within another two days told me what needed to be done to get the transaction closed,” said Jones. “The staff at Fannie Mae was completely professional and gave great customer service. Believe it or not, this closed a mere three weeks after it was submitted to the Short Sale Assistance Desk. Thanks to MRED for stepping up and providing this new service!”
For Jones, this turned a transaction going nowhere into a closing three weeks after the case was submitted to the Short Sale Assistance Desk. Complete frustration was turned into a new home for the buyers, a sale for sellers, and a closed transaction for Jones.
“This was exactly the type of service and results we were looking for when adopting this program,” said Russ Bergeron, MRED CEO. “Knowing the complexity of the problems associated with short sale transactions, having someone successfully close this quickly justified our very optimistic expectations of the Short Sale Assistance Desk. And based on the submissions already in process, there are many more to come.”
About MRED
Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) is a real estate data aggregator and distributor that provides the largest multiple listing service (by listing volume) to nearly 40,000 customers, with property information encompassing northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin and northwest Indiana.
Midwest Real Estate Data Offers Service to Speed Up Short Sales
Posted by on June 13, 2011
Midwest Real Estate Data LLC (MRED) has announced it has entered into an Agreement with Fannie Mae to provide its customers the Fannie Mae Short Sale Assistance Desk (“Assistance Desk”).
The Assistance Desk provides brokers and agents the ability to significantly shorten the time they have to wait for approval from Fannie Mae on short sale transactions. It helps real estate professionals with the handling of post-contract issues such as loan servicer responsiveness, the existence of a second lien or issues involving mortgage insurance.
By collecting and submitting information via a streamlined service provided through MRED, Fannie Mae has the data to help improve valuations and make quicker decisions regarding short sale requests. Currently, gaining an approval to proceed with a short sale transaction can take months. The Assistance Desk expedites the process so that a real estate professional will receive an initial response within one week confirming that the case has been reviewed.
Agents in other marketplaces have just begun to experience the benefit of using the Assistance Desk. “I have used the Assistance Desk and it was extremely helpful. They helped revive this transaction and we are set to close,” said Jason Kaspar of Prudential Sierra Nevada Properties, in Reno, Nevada. “The Fannie Mae Short Sale Assistance Desk helped my seller and me get results even after we felt like we had hit a dead end with the lien holder,” said Damian Janssen of Keller Williams Group One in Sparks, Nevada. “We were at the point where we could not even get through on the phone and were about to give up hope. After we engaged the Assistance Desk, a senior negotiator from the lien holder contacted me, falling all over himself with apologies and promises to help. We had short sale approval just 27 days later and my client is thrilled that he gets to open a new chapter in his life.”
“The Fannie Mae Assistance Desk is amazing,” said Marty Hunt, of Orlando, Florida. “I submitted a request Tuesday and had two calls from the lender the next day. I was in the field showing houses but she called the second time because I had not called her back quickly. That’s what I call responsive! And she couldn’t have been more helpful.” Michele Herdon of Keller Williams in Tampa, Florida, said, “This was a fantastic experience. Reps were helpful and responded quickly to emails and phone calls. We got this issue resolved quickly and painlessly, many thanks to this process!”
“We are thrilled to be able to provide to our brokers and agents an extremely effective way to speed up the short sale process at no cost to them,” said Russ Bergeron, MRED CEO. “Our customers now have an escalation procedure to help facilitate and streamline short sales for many of their transactions. We are pleased this partnership with Fannie Mae will help provide an improvement in the accuracy of Fannie Mae’s property valuations and a related gain in the efficiency of short sale approvals.”
“Long approval delays increase the risk that a buyer will walk away,” said Dean Rouso, President of MRED. “Long approval times on short sales overall have led many potential buyers to avoid short sale listings altogether. By providing the Assistance Desk, MRED is helping to support the recovery of distressed communities and is providing a benefit to homeowners and the real estate professional community.”
About MRED
Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) is a real estate data aggregator and distributor that provides the largest multiple listing service (by listing volume) to over 40,000 customers, with property information encompassing northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin and northwest Indiana.
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