Bank of America is on Twitter for the win…here is my tale:
Almost six months ago I got a short sale listing from a distressed (and stressed) home seller who wanted to sell with a short sale and couldn’t find a real estate agent to help.
I took on the listing because this woman was very organized and was barely behind on the mortgage. No late taxes or other liens in place and the house was well maintained and sparkling clean.
A couple months later I procure a first time home buyer who decides to take the gamble on the short sale and we present our purchase to Bank of America’s short sale division.
One Ringy Dingy…
I did my due diligence and called at least weekly to check on the file. Each time I called I was told that the file was in review which takes two weeks, awaiting a negotiator who then had another two weeks to review the file before we would hear anything. That answer worked on me the first time, but when I called a week later and was told the same exact thing, I grew a bit concerned.
At that point I asked if there was something we could do to move things along as it was nearing the foreclosure date and the answer was yes, we could request escalation.
Two Ringy Dingys…
One week later I call back, am told the EXACT same thing as my very first call and I get a bit terse with the representative. I tell them the file was supposed to be placed into escalation and they assure me that they will put it in this time.
Fast forward another week and you guess it….another phone call with the same answers. This time I insist upon speaking with a supervisor who informs me that there was no possible way the file could have been placed in escalation because it wasn’t even an accepted file until one day prior.
Well, I lost it. I am normally a very diplomatic, calm and dare I say even nice person, but I was pushed beyond patience and I let this guy have it. He must be well used to it because I think I even heard him whistle the Jeopardy tune and he was totally nonplussed by my anger. After I ran myself out and poked the red button on my cell phone really hard (I miss slamming the phone after those conversations, don’t you?) I went to Twitter to rant where someone might empathize.
Forget the phone, time to tweet…
I tweeted out that I was fuming at Bank of America because while I did anticipate a short sale with them would be long and perhaps even unpleasant, I did not anticipate that they would be lying to me.
Very quickly thereafter I got a response from @BofA_Help asking if they could well…help. After I verified that this was a real Bank of America representative we took our conversation to email and then a phone call.
Within hours of our call I had another phone call, this time from the assigned negotiator!
Once the negotiator was assigned it was smooth sailing and within ten days we had our short sale approval from Bank of America.
In the meantime the representative from @BofA_Help has followed up with me to make certain that my client is getting the appropriate service and I am won over by their proactive and effective Twitter based customer service.
Bank of America has impressed me with their implementation of social media tracking to see who is talking about them and by reaching out to quell my complaints and assist in a solution.
@BofA_Help on Twitter FTW!
Ed Daniels - Metrowest Boston Homes
May 1, 2010 at 10:30 pm
Well, after the 4th buyer has come and gone, and BofA dropping the ball for 250+ days, thank you for the helpful info. i will give them a try too. This home had a $410K buyer, recently I was only getting $360K buyers. I convinced a buyer to pay a requested BofA amount of $380K, then the investor had the nerve to counter $390K! Deal falls apart in frustration. Who wins? Listen up BofA… you will not do any better with your foreclosure the seller has decided on!
sharonalters
May 2, 2010 at 12:41 am
Lesley, I’m impressed! BofA has such a bad reputation even the public knows about it when they don’t exactly understand what a short sale is. They still know Bank of America is hard to deal with. Amazing! But listen to this, we just got an answer from an Equator BofA file in TWO WEEKS! We are encouraged that the improvements they have been talking about really are finally happening.
Lesley Lambert
May 2, 2010 at 4:50 pm
I hear you, they are the Goliath with a bad rep, for sure! But I didn’t go looking for them, they found ME which is what impressed me the most. Proactive is good.
Brad - Jacksonville Homes and Short Sales
May 2, 2010 at 10:14 pm
BOA has gotten much better overall in the last few months. Still some issues, but miles above their recent reputation.
Wells fargo on the other hand has been going down hill fast. Maybe I ticked someone off there?
Lesley Lambert
May 3, 2010 at 9:17 am
Bank of America’s use of social media surveillance is a success story and I would hope other lenders like Wells Fargo would hop on board, too.
Christine Latham
May 5, 2010 at 3:19 pm
I have a stressed seller who is in danger of losing his home to foreclosure. He has tried to sell for a YEAR! Unsucessfully. I’ve secured a pre-approved and pre-qualified buyer who is asking for nothing except a reasonable closing date and bank approval for closing no later than May 17,2010. NOW, two months ago, when this went under contract, it was not an unreasonable date. Now, that the days are looming around the corner, the buyer is considering NOT waiting around and purchasing something with less wait. My seller will have a foreclosure sale date any day. AND HE’S DONE EVERYTHING TO COOPERATE! What a shame that someone who has not walked away, and has tried to work at keeping his home from foreclosing, the best that he could, is now considering the upsides of giving up! COME ON BANK OF AMERICA! YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS! I HAVE FULL PRICE CONTRACTS ON THIS PROPERTY…AND IT’S PRICED RIGHT!!!! Everytime a foreclosed property pops in a neighborhood, the values of other homes go down by approx. $5000! Not to mention what it must cost you to draw out a long and expensive foreclosure!
Now, I’m very educated on the art of short sales. I’ve sent every piece of document that the bank can and will call for. AND I’ve been “esculated” into receiving a negotiator within 2 weeks. The only problem with this is, I’ve been told this TWICE. AND I CALL BANK OF AMERICA EVERY DAY!!! H E L P ! ! ! !
Christine Latham, Wheaton Real Estate njre4u@comcast.net
LesleyLambert
May 14, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Christine, as this story says I suggest you try tweeting with them. All I can tell you is it worked for me. Good luck, I know how frustrating it is!
Jill Angelino
June 25, 2010 at 9:29 am
I am a Realtor in South Florida. I needed to write and THANK YOU for posting your experience with Bank of America and Twitter. After 6 months of waiting, and 2 months after accepting BOA conditions on my short sale listing, only waiting for the approval letter, I was panicked. My listing had 2 loans..BOA being the 2nd. I was going to loose my 1st loan approval, and the buyer within 2 days. I went to Google in hopes of finding someone at BOA to help my cause, and stumbled across your article…So glad I did! I had never been on Twitter before, but took your advice and opened an account. After posting that I needed help on BOA help page, I was contacted within 10 minutes…and within 5 hours, had the approval letter I had been waiting 2 months for, and am now clear to close tomorrow! I am forever grateful for your shared knowledge. I would like to mail you a small token of appreciation. If you are comfortable sharing with me your address. There is no doubt, that without reading your article and using Twitter my sale would be dead! Thank you again!
sean anguiano
August 30, 2010 at 11:17 pm
I am starting to wonder what’s happening on our offer. We are the only bidder on a short sale that is now 80 plus days in input. No decision, just dithering and zero action on Bank of America’s part. They have postponed foreclosure twice, there are no other investors, just BofA, and they don’t seem to care. As a buyer I have to wonder if they really want our offer, or do they want it to go into foreclosure?
Rachel LaMar, J.D.
August 10, 2011 at 10:33 am
Thank you so much for this story! I just Tweeted a message to Bank of America about two short sales I have been waiting on, and they sent me a message within minutes. They will be calling me today…will keep you posted. I love Twitter – it has truly taught me so much and put me in contact with such incredible industry leaders…and I LOVE AgentGenius!
Chris
August 31, 2011 at 4:59 am
Well? 🙂
Cyndee Haydon
October 25, 2011 at 10:15 pm
Hey Lesley – thanks for the tip – when we ran into a brick wall we took your advice and connected with @BofA_Help on twitter – thanks to you we closed on a waterfront home and I just got a check for over $13,000 after 6 months with no progress ;D you ROCK!
Inna Moskalyk, Realtor
March 4, 2024 at 9:53 pm
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