Cautionary Tale Regarding Wells Fargo
The Sarasota Herald Tribune recently published an article that stated that Wells Fargo had a short sale incentive/fast track program in place. The article, which is consistent with other published articles we have seen, suggested that Wells Fargo would be willing to fast track short sale approvals and even make payments to short sale sellers under certain circumstances to encourage sellers to participate. As you can imagine, we received a flurry of phone calls and did some digging.
We contacted Wells Fargo’s media department, and they confirmed that Wells Fargo does indeed have such a program. However, they could provide no details. We then had each of our five short sale team members independently contact several Wells Fargo negotiators regarding the article. In each case, the Wells Fargo negotiators denied any knowledge of such a program (and in one instance, did so after reviewing the article we supplied to them). Indeed, if Wells Fargo has such a program, it seems that none of the actual Wells Fargo short sale negotiators have actually been advised of the program.
Please keep this in mind when establishing expectations for short sale sellers who have Wells Fargo mortgages.
GET FLOOD INSURANCE NOW FOR CLOSINGS AFTER NOVEMBER 18, 2011
Please be advised that the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is set to once again expire at midnight on Friday, November 18, 2011 unless it is reauthorized by Congress and signed by the President prior to November 18, 2011.
Therefore, Buyers of property who require flood insurance are strongly advised to make application and pay for flood insurance before 5:00 p.m. on November 18, 2011 to avoid any flood insurance hiatus and be able to still close any time after November 18, 2011.
If that is not possible, an alternative is for the Seller’s existing flood policy to be assigned by the Insured Seller to the Buyer.
A reminder that cash buyers will still have a thirty (30) day waiting period from when they make application and pay the premium before their flood insurance can be bound, even if they apply for and pay for flood insurance prior to November 18, 2011. Please keep that important thirty day widow in mind when setting closing dates for cash Buyers who want flood insurance.
Please contact us if you have any questions.
New Berlin Patten Service: Previously Approved Short Sales
As anyone who handles short sales understands, there are many instances where a short sale gets approved, but for some reason the Buyer is unwilling or unable to close. Due to the volume of short sales that Berlin-Patten handles, we see this situation quite frequently. Recognizing that a great deal of the legwork to get the short sale approved has often times already been done, we wanted to see if we could better assist our clients and their listing agents in their efforts to sell their homes prior to foreclosure. The most obvious way we felt we could help our clients and referral sources, we concluded, was to find a way to assist them in securing a replacement Buyer as quickly as possible and proceed to close with the replacement Buyer.
As such, effective next week, when Berlin-Patten obtains a short sale approval, and the Buyer is unwilling or unable to close for some reason, Berlin-Patten will offer the seller and seller’s agent the option to immediately publish to our extensive database of real estate professionals the pertinent terms of the previously approved short sale, such as approved price, lender timeframes, and buyer restrictions. This will only be done with the Seller’s and listing agent’s written approval, and we will only publish this information once a week.
It is our hope that in providing this weekly service to our clients and referral sources, we can also offer anyone on our distribution list the opportunity to not only get relevant legal information through our blog entries, but now also offer them the opportunity to get the most recent information available on previously approved short sales that our firm has handled.
A word of caution! A previously approved short sale is NOT a preapproved short sale, and in some cases, the lender’s will nevertheless require the process to begin anew. However, with a previously approved short sale, some lenders will not require the process to begin completely anew (or will offer a more streamlined approval process), but more importantly, the parties will have the benefit of knowing what the lender is likely to accept the second time around, thus maximizing the chances of a successful closing prior to foreclosure.
Vote on the Revised HUD-1
Due to massive confusion with the current version of the HUD-1 Settlement Statement, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed two versions of a revised HUD-1.
You can vote on which version you like at: http://www.consumerfinance.gov/knowbeforeyouowe/ (Click on Continue to Consumer Tool)
