Bank of America making big changes to short sale process.
On January 6th 2014 Bank of America sent out an update to their realtor network. This would be agents and brokers who have closed short sale transactions with Bank of America and anyone that was registered with them in some way through either Equator (their software platform that is used to process their short sale transactions) or through some other form. The email announced that property valuation reports would now be issued to the customer and the agent assisting the customer through the short sale process. This is a huge change and should help with valuation disputes and making the short sale process run smoother as a whole.
Previously to Bank of America’s announcement property valuations were not released to the consumer or their agent. This meant that the property was inspected and the report was generated and then the point of contact for the short sale transaction would inform the agent or customer just that the offer that was submitted was to low and in most cases wouldn’t even disclose what the valuation report stated as a determined value. This practice forced the agents involved to just guess what the value could have been arrived at and make offers with no real idea from where the bank was obtaining their value opinion. A lot of the times this lead to deals falling apart and home owners were then being foreclosed on.
The frustrating part for owners, potential buyers and agents is that sometimes after foreclosure the bank would take a lower offer at the foreclosure sale then what was originally being submitted prior to the foreclosure. We hope that with these new practices agents, owners and potential buyers will now be able to close more transactions and successfully dispute incorrect valuation reports. Now that the data will be released it will make it easier to see if the value opinion the bank is working off of is correct or flawed.
We pride ourselves in being extremely experienced with the valuation of properties so much so that we have been providing valuation services for banks for the last 7 years. If you want to know what your home is worth and are wondering if a short sale could be an option just go to www.homepricingmadeeasy.com
to receive your own no cost home valuation. If your a buyer you can also go to www.homepricingmadeeasy.com to find out if a property your interested in purchasing is listed at a realistic price that a lender would normally approve.
As a potential home seller, it is counter productive for you and your agent to list your property for sale at a price that has no chance of getting approved. All this does is put you the owner at a greater risk for short sale failure and potential foreclosure. So yes it truly is great news that Bank of America is deciding to release their valuation reports to the owners and agents.
Now we just have to wait and see if knowing the value will actually make it easier to dispute incorrect values this will depend on Bank of America and how they handle value disputes from this point forward. A great deal of the problems with the values that are obtained by a lender who is considering a short sale for a client is that they use third party vendors who randomly assign the task of obtaining an appraisal or BPO for a property with no real knowledge of how familiar the appraiser or broker conducting the property valuation is with the neighborhood. Just for clarification a appraisal and a BPO are both reports of opinion of value in relation to a piece of real estate. An appraisal is done by an appraiser who’s only job is to evaluate properties for lenders and consumers and a BPO is done by a real estate agent or broker.
The old saying that knowledge is power in this situation couldn’t be any truer. We can just hope that having this knowledge doesn’t just turn in to making the processes even more frustrating for all involved.
If you would like a no cost consultation of what your current situation is please don’t hesitate to give us a call. We have many years of experience working with distressed home owners. Remember our job and goal is to turn your dreams in to accomplishments by creating customized solutions. The only way we are able to do that is by always continuing to learn and improve ourselves and our processes. We invite you to sit down with us and let us get to know you and your story.
Guillermo Serafin
BRE#01471159
Phone: 18778011923 Ext-101
Email: info@thinkingshortsale.com
Efax: 18778033190
Berkshire Hathaway Home Services California Properties.
Turning Dreams in to Accomplishments by creating customized solutions.
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Guillermo Serafin
Phone: (877) 801-1923 Ext. 101
Fax: (877) 803-3190
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices
California Properties
BRE #01471159
info@thinkingshortsale.com
TURNING DREAMS
INTO ACCOMPLISHMENTS
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