Kona Kohala Blog

Today was a monumental day in that a short sale closed after just 6 months in escrow.  I was talking to the Loss Mitigation rep at Bank of America about what a nightmare it had been and how just being able to communicate with him made such a difference.  For the first five months, I was unable to make contact with any of the reps but once I had one to talk to it went quickly.

Now I'm told that the whole process is being made more efficient.  The federal government working together with some of the larger lenders have come up with some standardized practices.  They've even come up with standardized forms we can use.  One potential problem is that while this headway has been made, the program is voluntary.  Not only is it voluntary but a bank may agree to the terms in one transaction but not in the next one.  Does this sound like something the government would be involved in?

Bank of America has the lion's share of short sale and foreclosure properties.  They've begun working with a company now called Equator nee, REOtrans.  This is allowing all documents to be posted on line accessible by all those involved in the process.  Hopefully this will make things happen faster, we'll see.

There are lots of reasons short sales have bad reputations but most importantly is getting the process fixed.  Equator has been working well with foreclosure properties.  If it works as well with short sales we may have a great alternative to other liquidation methods up and running in no time.

This would mean that people who qualify for a short sale could actually get on with their lives sooner than has been possible.  It will mean we can reduce the back log of "under water" properties by getting them sold and the owners out of a financial death grip.  This will be a good first step towards stabilizing our market place.  I'm opening escrow on another short sale on Monday so we'll see if it's real or just more smoke and mirrors.  Let's hope it's real.

If you think you may be qualified for a short sale, contact me by email at Robert@FerrariPacificRealty.com or call 808-896-0661.  If you're thinking of buying a short sale, contact me so I can prepare you for the process.  There's a lot both buyer and seller can do to prepare for the sale and being prepared is part of the trick of getting the job done.