Posted by MattFL on September 24, 2003 at 07:18:18:
Hey Jim,
Are you dealing directly with Chase Manhattan or with a third party company like First American Loss Mitigation Services? I’ve ran into this problem before. Look up in your phone book for a HUD counseling office. See how long it will take to schedule an appointment with a HUD counselor and your seller. Most likely it will take too long. Call your contact with the lender and let them know that you have everything completed to satisfy the short sale packet, except for the HUD Homeownership Counseling Certificate. Tell them that your seller has been trying to schedule an appointment, but due to the overwhelming number of foreclosures, the HUD office is extremely backed up. Let the lender know you have a buyer that will be ready to close at whatever date you need. Most likely they will just tell you to just go ahead and submit your short sale packet anyway. When you do, be sure to include in your cover page or where ever you put your message that you “formally request a postponement of the foreclosure auction date. You have a buyer that will be ready to close on xx/xx/xx… Please see that the postponement of the auction extends throuth this date.” If the BPO has not been done yet, then make sure you ask for a long enough postponement to allow them to do one (at least two weeks extra).
As far as the Realtor, find another one. Tell the next Realtor that he or she will get paid at closing like any other deal. Also, find out what the maximum % the lender allows for the Realtor. There will be no other Realtor, and they are not doing anything but listing it on the MLS, so find one that will put half of that full commission back in your pocket after closing. Good luck!
-MattFL