In a recent article by Mark Calvey of the San Francisco Business Times, a Wells Fargo spokesman is quoted in support for customers facing foreclosure. After acknowledging that many of the loans Wells Fargo services are owned by other companies and investors, Chris Hammond was quoted as saying,
“…..We are fully committed to helping our customers find ways to avoid all preventable foreclosures, and we are working with these investors and related contractual commitments to determine how we will support the moratorium request”
Really?
Fully committed?
What about Short Sales? May I suggest one of the attempts to show support for those facing foreclosure might be to help them get their short sale negotiator to return a call or use practical logic when it comes to allowing the acceptance of their offer?
Kristal Kraft, a Denver Realtor recently wrote a great post “The Constipation Effect of Short Sales” which sums up how ridiculous the short sale process has become and why the system is so broken.
Yes the banks and Fannie and Freddie want to put moratoriums on new foreclosures. Hasn’t that been done that in the past? Has it worked? What good is a moratorium if the overall end result remains the same? Loan modifications will only work for a very small percentage of owners. It won’t help those who have lost their jobs, need to leave the area or owe 25% more than their home is worth.
Why is this so hard for Banks to understand?
If they were really fully committed, they would restructure their loss mitigation departments so the right hand would know what the left hand is doing. They would streamline the process so buyers could have a realistic expectation of receiving a “yea” or “nay” within a reasonable timeframe….something which might actually prevent these foreclosures from moving forward and stop hemorrhaging home values.
There are people in the market right now who want to buy but in many cases the majority of the inventory is short sales. Distressed owners right now, are willing to jump through the short sale hoops imposed on them (and rightfully so in many cases) and are working with their Real Estate professionals to obtain an offer prior to foreclosure….and usually at an amount significantly above liquidation value.
Why is this not a bigger priority with the banks who want to “find ways to prevent all avoidable foreclosures’?
Short sales are a way to prevent foreclosures!!
Why are the Banks not bending over backwards to help facilitate these sales? Why don’t they spend a little of their bailout money on a few competent employees who are able to make common sense decisions and actually know how to return a phone call or email?
Your guess is as good as mine. It is estimated that there could be upwards of 10 million homeowners facing foreclosure over the next few years. Maybe we should look at all the alternatives.
Colleen Fischesser, Washington State Designated Broker & Owner of RE/MAX Select R.E; Member NWMLS, SKAR, WAR, Voted "Best in Client Satisfaction" Seattle Magazine 2006,2007 & 2008. Representing home Buyers & Sellers for nearly two decades. 
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Colleen ~ You are echoing the sentiments of a nation full of Realtors. We need to be able to deliver good advice to the consumer. Hemming and hawing about the process and lack of efficiency leaves the consumer feeling less and less confident. As for us, well we can only do so much to help, we need to work together to make this situation go away soon.
It effects everyone.
I couldn’t possibly have said it better myself, although I’ve said it many many times. The process is not only broken, it’s been smashed into oblivion. It doesn’t work, and simplifying the process in the ways you’ve stated above would not only help, it would actually make buying a pre-foreclosure home attractive to the average buyer, who now is just not able to wait weeks for a simple yes or no.
There really is NO reason for the process to be run the way it is currently, and the only logic I can place on it is that these banks literally have NO interest in fixing the problem (foreclosures) that they continue to point the finger at, as the cause of their ails.
One of the first things the banks should consider is making access to the negotiators in the short sale departments much easier, as you said. How about posting their email addresses on a website, or at least provide it to owners and agents who are trying to work out a deal? And quit changing negotiators every other week! Perhaps the banks could even post their initial consideration packages online somewhere. Just a thought…
Well written post on the subject. I forwarded your post and Kristal’s to the local media and asked them to pursue this issue. I will push a couple of them that I know. The only way to fix this is to focus media and political attention on the issue.