When doing a Short Sale: Stop Wasting the Foreclosing Lenders Time!
The real estate short sale industry is booming and lenders are so overwhelmed with new and existing over debted properties in default that they need our help! What I mean by that is, if you are doing short sales, please DO THEM correctly! I keep getting feedback from lenders that there are too many investors and real estate agents that are wasting their time because they don’t understand and don’t take the time to get properly trained.
If you are in the business or thinking of getting in the business of short sales, it is your job to make foreclosing lenders’ lives easier. If we take the time to learn and educate ourselves on how the short sale process works and we do it correctly every single time, then lenders will be able to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively which will allow them to get our deals closed quicker. Most of the time spent by lenders on short sales is spent wading through all of the packages that come in that are missing required documents, that aren’t filled out correctly, or that contain offers that aren’t even remotely close to market value! If you don’t take the proper steps and carry them out in a professional and methodical manner, you will be wasting their time and the time of all of the other professionals doing short sales.
Just to give you some rough numbers, which I received from a supervisor at Washington Mutual…the average loss mitigator in their company works on 200+ properties at a time. Now, that is a huge case load and if you don’t follow the proper steps in the short sale process you will NEVER get a property sold and closed! Instead, you will be wasting the time of other “professionals” that are doing short sales correctly, because the loss mitigator that should we working on your file won’t be. They will be too busy dealing with an investor or real estate agent who is simply wasting their time.
Since there is absolutely no barrier to entry in this business, the only thing we can hope for is that everyone gets educated and stays up to date with industry changes. With that being said, a lot of the time wasted for these lenders is wasted at the beginning of the short sale process. I will give you 10 very important questions to ask each and every lender when you are working on a short sale which will allow you to put together the proper information in a professional package.
Here are your 10 questions to follow on every single short sale you will work on:
After sending in an Authorization to Release Information form to a lender, be sure you follow up. Never send in an authorization and assume the bank received it, noted it on the file, or accepted it to begin with. Follow up is the perfect time to verify important loan information needed to process your client’s short sale.
Be sure you or your staff asks the following:
1. How long until the authorization expires?
2. Is everyone on my team authorized?
3. What is the loan type (ARM, Fixed, etc)?
4. Is there an investor backing the loan (FHA, VA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, etc)?
5. We need reinstatement figures and a payoff—how do we get those?
6. What is the direct phone number for the loss mitigation department?
7. Do you have a required lender specific short sale package?
8. Where and what number do we fax our short sale package?
9. What is the timeline for your short sale review?
10. When should we follow up with you after we submit our short sale package?
***You should have this information re-verified several times throughout the process.
***Some lenders require a specific authorization form.
Once armed with this information, you’ll be equipped to not only set expectations for everyone involved, but also make sure to give the lenders what they want, and facilitate the process for them! We encourage all our visitors to ask questions or leave a comment in the section below, We hope to hear from you soon!
