Bank of America, along with the former mortgage giant it absorbed, Countrywide, had such an atrocious reputation for loan modification; many borrowers wouldn’t even attempt a short sale. Many real estate agents also would strongly discourage their clients from making offers on Bank of America (BOA) properties due to the unlikelihood of receiving a timely approval. It was not uncommon to see approvals taking 6 months or more. Buyers would withdraw their offers in frustration, leaving sellers having to begin the process all over again.
Last fall, Bank of America expanded its on-line portal previously used to manage foreclosure listings, to include short sales. Distressed borrowers and their agents could now directly request a short sale. You will have to have an MLS-listed property, along with a valid offer to purchase from a prospective buyer.
Agents can now quickly upload the necessary documents into the system. Previously, we would send long, physical faxes which then would have to be organized, sifted and managed into a file. Eventually, the file would be assigned a series of negotiators to process and approve the file. It could take months just waiting to be assigned a negotiator. Here in the Las Vegas area we would routinely lose buyers during this long waiting period. We are now typically assigned to a negotiator in 2-3 weeks. I now have files taking only 2 -3 months from start to finish, whereas under the old system I still have files over a year old!
There are some drawbacks. Government-backed loans such as FHA, VA along with Home Equity Lines of Credit (helocs) cannot be processed through the Equator system. The system also does not allow for the complexities of an individual’s financial situation. The system only speeds up the processing, but does not automate the terms associated with settling the debt. That requires a strong real estate agent to represent the seller’s interests with respect to the sale terms, shortfalls due to the loss (deficiencies), promissory notes etc. A seller should also consult an attorney and tax professional with short sale experience to help evaluation if a short sale is a good option for them.
Paul Rowe is the managing listing agent for the Sena Team at North American Realty of Nevada. The Sena Team can be reached at 702-376-0088.
We are not the Government. 
2470 West Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 120 Henderson, NV 89052 - Phone: (702) 376-7379 
It is good to find out that progress is being made with regard to short sale properties. We just finished a short sale for a buyer that took 100 days from the day the contract was submitted. Our buyers new it would take a while, but they we still getting impatient.
BofA always scares me bc I know it is going to take forever in day to even hear a response. Hopefully that all changes and things get better!
I have clients who have been waiting on a short sale for 7 months. And yes it’s with B of A. I hope some of what you’re saying might mean that we’ll hear from them soon. Thanks for the post!
As well as faster turnaround times sellers can also qualify for $1500 to move to a new home, worth stressing to encourage sellers to wait. It can still be slow but anyway, a step in the right direction.
We have a short sale listing that has been pending for close to 10 months. The mortgage is with BofA and we have had to resubmit the paper work 3 times. It does not help that the seller does not know how to turn on his computer.
I just sold my house via a short sale in Los Angeles. It took 3 months from start to finish. Including putting the house on the market, I had two solid offers in two weeks and we submitted. So about 10 weeks on B of A’s part. My agent was Keller Williams, experts in short sales in LA.
Me and my husband are still waiting for the house that we want to be approved.It was listed for 149,000 we offered 158,000 seller agreeed but bank wanted 164,000 which we agreed to. Here we are 6 months already and no approval. And yes the bank that we are dealing with is B of A . We had them tell our realitor who told us they were fast tracking our file and it would take 24- 48 hrs. and that was the begining of July. I understand when doing a short sale you need patience but to me this is way to long.. It’s been a hard long tearful 6 months and counting our realtor keeps telling us it will be soon but I don’t know how much longer I can wait it out.. It’s been so draining .I would not do this ever again..
Sporadic to say the least… I had one B of A short sale done from start to finish in 60 days under Equator… Others now going on 6+ months.
It really depends on who the “Investors” are that own the loan.
Regardless… I think it’s safe to say that B of A is still dead last when it comes to short sales. A recent Deutsche Bank survey confirms this.
Paul,
If you stay on top of them and call at least weekly, you should improve your processing time. Equator was designed to get approvals done in 60 -90 days, so if you’re files are taking longer, you have to escalate.
You will want to try and uncover personnel at higher levels that you can take your case to, and not rely on low level negotiators to put in your “escalation”. That will be a waste of time.