When the Going Gets Tough . . .
Over the past five years, our short sale practice has become ever more streamlined and efficient. We’ve seen time required for approvals drop as all the major lenders in the Virginia market recognize our firm name and even have first name relationships with some of our staff members who have been with us throughout the foreclosure crisis in the Virginia Real Estate Market. It can be stressful work standing in the gap between stressed out sellers and powerful lenders, but all the members of our “Department of Distress Relief” find it rewarding work!
While we always hold onto hope that the next short sale will be as smooth, beneficial, and relatively painless for the seller as it was for the last, we still sometimes have those “short sales from Hades” that require extraordinarily tough sellers and realtors with exceptional determination and endurance.
Today we closed an averaged priced home in the Virginia Beach market in a nice neighborhood with good schools and really, really bad luck. Our clients maintained their home admirably throughout the unusually long listing and re-listing period required to short sale their home. They even replaced a water heater at the cost of $1,500 out of pocket to satisfy one buyer’s home inspection demands. The homeowners could not have done any more to facilitate the sale of their home. Our sellers even moved out early to facilitate an anticipated closing which later failed . . . but rather than move back in the property, they paid rent elsewhere to allow their agent to “stage” the property even better. Our office likewise worked hard to keep the two mortgage holders from losing patience and taking steps toward foreclosure when all the bad luck started to accumulate.
What was the bad luck? FIVE, yes FIVE (5) buyers got the dreaded disease with no known cure, no, not Ebola, but almost as bad – Buyer’s Remorse! Some were justifiably nervous over the fact that our first and second lien holders bickered as to how much the first would have to contribute out of it’s payoff to pay to the second mortgage lien holder to release its lien. Other buyers got cold feet when the infamous lender with initials BOA switched servicers in the middle of processing short sale offers. One day we were submitting all seller documentation to Company A and the next we had to re-send to Company B . . . . C . … etc.. I suppose several of these buyers may have seen other comparable homes come on the market or been faced with leases expiring or other reasons they didn’t have the luxury of being a little bit flexible and patient with the short sale process. The end result was that a short sale journey that began in August of 2012 has now ended successfully in August of 2014!!!
So if you are an upside down or underwater homeowner in the Virginia market needing inspiration to stay the course and finish your short sale or if you need a realtor who will stand by you through every adversity, look no further than:
Dayla Brooks, Realtor, The Real Estate Group, www.SoldByDayla.com .
and her sellers – people committed to doing the right thing no matter what, people who, BTW, put that same commitment into baking your wedding cake in the bakery that they run, try – Shockley’s Sweet Shoppe – http://shockleyssweetshoppe.blogspot.com.
Finally, no kudos on the Short Sale Wall of Fame would be complete without mentioning our firm’s paralegal, Paul S., who resubmitted the short sale application at least enough times to make a Bakers Half-Dozen! With Paul’s conscientious efforts and the protection of the firm and the proven track record of foreclosure prevention, everyone had reason to celebrate today and Paul is taking a well deserved couple of days off!
