Short sale denied

[Judono]

I recently put in an offer for a condo that was accepted by the seller but unfortunately was denied by the lender. My agent is going to fax me a denial letter from the seller stating the lender denied my offer. Isn't the letter supposed to be from the lender? I am curious if the sellers agent even sent in my offer to the bank. Is there any way for me to check if they did? I have also asked for the brokers price opinion when they started the short sale but was denied. I also asked for authorization from the seller to speak to the bank but again was denied. Are they trying to get me to send in a counter offer? Any thoughts and help would be appreciated. Thanks!!!

[TJ2007]

In my opinion if they won't let you speak directly to the lender and give you an authorization:
1) They are not serious about selling
2) You probably don't have a chance of the Lender approving the short sale

I am not sure how many of these you have done, but the lenders are very specific about waht they want and it needs to look really good - not just an offer, you need to have all your paperwork documenting why they should accept the short sale figure.

The 1st time I tried to do this the lender shot down my offer, buyer screwed it up by quit claiming the property to someone else...but then the lender ended up selling it for $100k less than what was owed (on a $300k property!!)

SO don't give up, but you gotta do it right

[Judono]

Thank you for the quick reply. I am a first time buyer so this is my first short sale. As far as the paperwork is concerned I left that to my agent. When your sale was denied did you receive a letter from the lender or seller? Any more help and advice would be appreciated.

[TJ2007]

Well if you don't have an authorization to talk to the lender they have absolutely no desire to communicate with you via letter or otherwise.

Good for you trying to do a short sale on your 1st home - that's great...

Again if you just had your agent send an offer to the bank with no supporting documentation I would assume you are going to get a no 99.99% of the time.

Also is this agent working for you or is he the seller's agent?

Many agents are sceptical of this kind of deal and may not be trying as hard as they can (SORRY ALL YOU GOOD AGENTS OUT THERE), make sure he is behind you on this...if the agents are not, you could make a new offer, or request to talk to the bank directly to negotiate and allow the seller to continue marketing the home for sale until the lender agrees or denies.
If the seller is really in a bind and needs to sell then he needs to work with you- if not find another deal.

There are some great programs out there on short sales & how to get them approved.

But basically you need to talk to the lender directly see how exactly they want the information, provide documented reasons why they should accept a short sale; an appraisal or broker opinion, inspection report/ repairs needed, a 'net sheet' of the lenders actual net at closing, perhaps a letter from the seller stating they will file for BK if they cannot sell, etc etc ++++++

[Thesa]

Just another heads up - I just completed a short sale that turned out to be a nightmare due to the fact that the sellers lender found another bank to purchase the note while the property was in foreclosure.

The problem was at the same time both the trustee and the bank headquarters were hit by severe weather - thus making all of them run behind time. We had a trustee sale set for say the 1st but the new bank didnt even have the loan in the system to approve or disapprove the $ amount. Then the trustee was not in the office because of no phones or power.... we were able to get a dealy in the trustee sale and get it closed but it really took an act of congress so to speak....

What I have found is that if the sale is still a ways out the bank is not as cooporative as it is when the sale is within 45 days.