Great News for Bank of America Mortgage Borrowers
According to an article in DSNews.com this month (5-18-2012), Bank of America is offering up to $30,000 in relocation assistance to those BOA borrowers who list and obtain a short sale contract to sell their homes in 2012 and close by September 26, 2013. As with so many inducements in the area of loan workouts, there are no guarantees, but BOA has already given a $10,000 relocation allowance to one borrower in Massachusetts within a few days of announcing the relocation incentive. Many factors will enter into the BOA decisions, e.g., hardship, amount owed BOA, investor demands, how depressed your local market is, etc.. You can read the full article at http://www.dsnews.com/articles/bofa-offering-up-to-30k-in-relocation-assistance-for-short-sales-2012-05-18. Our recommendation is always to have an advocate in your corner. Our firm specializes in making the best presentation possible of your hardship and financial situation to qualify you for the highest possible incentive.
Short sale success is still not a “slam dunk”. BOA is improving their service and efficiency by increasing from 25,000 short sales processed to 30,000 per quarter in the first quarter of 2012. However, when these numbers are compared to the total number of loans serviced and foreclosed upon by BOA, this is still very much an area where a homeowner or realtor without an abundance of time to invest in pursuing permission to short sale should only venture at their own peril!
Historically, many realtors have refused after unpleasant experience to negotiate with BOA – even those realtors who will help a listing customer with a short sale and do have experience in this intrepid endeavor. The risk of failure and the time demand simply could not promise sufficient reward to make a fair return on an agent’s time. SSN (short sale negotiator) laws and regulations have also made these endeavors extremely perilous for the ill-prepared realtor.
But whether you engage legal expertise for your protection and to negotiate a short sale or you act on your own behalf or with your realtor to get permission to sell for less than you owe on your property, it does appear that BOA has decided that it is in the Bank’s best interest to get upside down and non-performing loans resolved sooner rather than later and other lenders are likely to follow suit. Hopefully, these inducements will help indecisive homeowners overcome procrastination and take proactive steps to resolve an unsustainable financial situation today rather than someday.
