Bidding on a short sale...

[Anonymous]

Hey moonlitnight - short sales are the worst! I know how you feel. Unfortunately, I don't think the affidavit means a whole lot. We didn't get an affidavit specifically from BofA, ever, but we did sign the short sale addendum at contract signing. I'm not sure how fast WF is, I think maybe better than BofA, but the first few months will most likely be really long with no progress, and then all of a sudden you have approval. Ours took 4.5 months total, and we had to have two BPOs done b/c the first expired when they took so long. Appraisal and BPO weren't done until about 3.5 months in. Good luck! Let me know if you have any other specific questions. It's such a pain, but totally worth it if you can hold out.

[Anonymous]

It's been a month since I put in my offer.   The offer has been at WF since 11/16.  The only thing I have heard since then is when I signed the SS Aff., Long Arm Aff and agree to close in 30 days once the offer is accepted by the lender (WF).  that was just over a week ago.   My mom called WF and didn't ask for specifics just said that "we" had signed the affidavits and how long until I hear if it is accepted, countered or denied.   They told my mother probably about 5 weeks.   I have read those short sale papers that are online with the timeline for a WF SS.  37 business days (giving them 2 days off at xmas, thanksgiving and new years) puts me at January 14.   One more month to go.   I'm still looking but there isn't much out there right now .. and what is out there in my area and budget is.. guess what... short sale!  Maybe the market will get some new houses after Christmas/New Years in case this one doesnt go.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for many posts on this board.  I learned a lot of information here.  I worked with my agent to put in a short sale contract on November 20.  My current status is that the lender just finished the appraisal.  My agent asked the seller's agent of the appraisal result, the seller's agent said that the lender refused to provide the details to him.  The lender may give the detailed information directly to the current home owner.  I do not understand why the lender refuse the seller's agent.  What is the lender trying to do here?  The lender is First Franklin Loan Service.  Does anyone deal with this lender before? 

[Anonymous]

 I don' think the seller is suppossed to contact the lender about the appraisal.  The whole appraisla process is suppossed to be separarted from the seller to maintain accuracy/fairness.  If you are talking about a short sale and the bank that owns the note doing an appraisal, they do that for in house purposes and may not release that information.  If you are talking about your lender that you are using to buy the house, they should give the appraisal info directly to you or your realtor.  I too it that you were refering to the lender that owns the note on the property and it would not be unusualy for them to not share that info.  Your lender will still likely have to do an appraisal on it's own. 

[Anonymous]

Same thing happened to us. My realtor was actually a dual agent for buyer/seller on our short sale (we were buyers). The seller's lender bank (BofA) would only release information about the appraisal and BPOs to the seller directly. So, if you have a decent seller (which we definitely did NOT), the seller can call and find out the appraised value. It's his/her right, as the owner. The bank is not willing to tell you, because if it appraises for a lot lower than offer, which would they want you to know that information?

As far as YOUR lender, who will do a whole separate appraisal, you'll find out the appraisal value after it's done...but that won't happen until after the seller bank accepts the offer. Sometimes I wonder how different those two appraisals are...it can't be by much, but you never know. 

[Jazzzy]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Same thing happened to us. My realtor was actually a dual agent for buyer/seller on our short sale (we were buyers). The seller's lender bank (BofA) would only release information about the appraisal and BPOs to the seller directly. So, if you have a decent seller (which we definitely did NOT), the seller can call and find out the appraised value. It's his/her right, as the owner. The bank is not willing to tell you, because if it appraises for a lot lower than offer, which would they want you to know that information?

As far as YOUR lender, who will do a whole separate appraisal, you'll find out the appraisal value after it's done...but that won't happen until after the seller bank accepts the offer. Sometimes I wonder how different those two appraisals are...it can't be by much, but you never know. 

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I think you might be surprised. If you take 5 appraisers...and those 5 appraisers all do a thorough job (and by that I mean they don't get lazy and simply use the selling price)..you will likely get 5 different numbers. Appraising is part science and part art.

[Anonymous]

How long after you got the approval letter from BOA were you able to close?

Did the approval letter include the closing date?

Does the bank determine closing date after approval?

[Anonymous]

It's hard to tell when the appraisal was actually "done"...because as far as I know, the appraisal was done on Oct. 3rd. However, the bank didn't acknowledge it as being "done" until about Oct. 28th-ish. We received approval less than a week after they acknowledged they had received the appraisal.

In the letter, sent Nov. 3rd, they told us we had until Nov. 23rd to close. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the update Icinva.

Although they gave you up until that date to close, were you able to choose which date within that time frame or does the bank after to give you the exact date?

[Anonymous]

Nope, we picked the date. At least in our situation, BofA had nothing more to do with it after we got the approval letter. Everything was determined by us and the seller. We actually didn't have an official closing date until the day before, because the seller kept not packing and we were waiting on my lender's appraisal. I mean, BofA gets the money, but once they sign to get the money they don't really care how the logistics happen. It's not like a bank rep has to be there or anything.