Short Sale Package Preparation

Short Sale Package preparation is very time consuming and very frustrating as well. And, it is extemely common for a real estate agent to put together a short sale package and fax it off to the bank just to find out 3 weeks later that the short sale package was not received. Why is that? Well . . . there are several reasons that the bank cannot confirm receipt of the short sale package. Understanding these reasons may make your future short sales go through more quickly.

The first reason is that you may not have faxed the package to the correct department. Getting the correct fax number from the bank employee who answers the phone is sometimes challenging. You need to ask where to fax the short sale package. Some banks have one fax number for authorizations, another for loan modification packages, and a third for short sale packages.

The second reason that your package may not be in the system is that you may not have documented the loan number clearly on each and every page of your fax. You see . . . there are bank employees whose job it is to receive electronic files of the faxes and then electronically apply those faxes to loan files. This is all done by computer. So, if you are off by one digit or the loan number is not clear, your short sale package will go by the wayside. Additionally, when faxing the file, you are at the mercy of a bank employee who, like all of us, may be having a bad day or may not be in the mood to work on the day your package is received. Because of these reasons, it it vital to confirm receipt of the package 48 hours after you have faxed it . . . and every 48 hours after that until the package is received.

Nowadays, many short sale packages to a few of the major lenders (such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo) begin their sojourn into the short sale abyss by travelling via Equator. With Equator, there are opportunities to email supervisors and managers if things are not going as planned. So, in this case, you are not at the mercy of the fax machine.

Nevertheless, in any of these situations, a few new gray hairs and wrinkles can be expected.

Photo: flickr creative commons be featheredtar

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