My Toluca Lake short sale closed!

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you may have been following my "how my short sale is going" posts for 10862 Bloomfield #103 in Toluca Lake.  IT CLOSED! 

Last Monday, Chase, the lender, finally sent the approval letter to me.  It had been a little over 4 and 1/2 months since the short sale package plus offer was submitted to Chase.  While we had verbal approval at the end of May, it just took forever to get Chase's letter -- and you can't close a short sale transaction without having an okay from the lender in writing.  Since the buyer was paying cash, we -- meaning, mostly, the escrow officer -- was able to slam this shut on Friday. (Paying cash is a much faster transaction than getting a loan.)  We had worked in advance with both buyer and seller and had all disclosures and other contractual items reviewed and signed off in June.

A couple of details.  Yes, there were two loans.  Both, however, were with Chase, so Chase just wrote the 2nd off.  The seller/borrower was still current on her HOA payments and mostly current on her taxes, and there were no other outstanding liens against the property.  The seller could definitely prove her hardship, as she was denied a loan modification in 2009 and was laid off this year.  Since I represented both the buyer and seller, the commission was cut in half.  Bah.  But it's closed now and everybody is happy.

How my Toluca Lake condo short sale is going, Chapter 4

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you may recall posts about my short sale with Chase bank.  I rep both the buyer and the seller on this Toluca Lake condo, and we had a complete package (all seller financials, all buyer financials, offer, etc.) submitted at the end of February.

Anyway, we finally had a negotiator assigned in May, he asked for a few more pieces, and verbally told me at the end of May that we were approved for the short sale purchase.  Yay!  Time for dancing in the streets!

Note the word "verbal." Even the negotiator has to kick things upstairs for a final sign-off and that department issues an approval letter.  Nothing can happen until the letter is received by seller.  The negotiator has expected the letter any minute -- for the last five weeks. 

One thing did happen.  After three weeks of waiting, "upstairs" kicked the approval out unless I agreed to halve my commission.  What's a Realtor to do?  Unhappily, I agreed of course.  And we got reapproved.  Verbally. 

Then, no letters could be issued at the end of June or the beginning of July because it is the end of the fiscal year and all Chase employees had other responsibilities.

So we're still waiting for the letter.  Seller, buyer and escrow are ready to close.  Jay, my Chase negotiator, and I talk every day re status.  I have his number memorized.  I know the names of his kids. 

To be continued.

How my short sale is going, Chapter 3

My short sale "file" has now been in the closing department of Chase since 3/29/10.  However, nobody has been assigned to the file yet.  I'm told that the closing department just got a lot of short sale files (you don't say!) and they will hopefully have a negotiator assigned this week.

How my short sale is going, Chapter Two

If you read down the page, you'll see a post regarding my experience listing a short sale property.  Here's the latest: all in all, it's not going that badly, so far.  Yes, I have to call the processor every day and he never calls me back.  But I expected that.  And he tells me that the file has been sent to the closing department.  Huzzah!  But he also tells me that it will be a week to ten days before a closer is assigned.  Again, this is par for the course.

Here's how my short sale is going

I have a short sale listing at 10862 Bloomfield.  We have an all-cash offer.  For those interested in the process, here's how it's going so far.  The buyer has two loans; both are with Chase.
- 2/25/10 -All required documents uploaded to Chase Bank
- 2/26/10 - Chase confirmed receipt for the first but not the second.  I resent.
- Last week: I called six different short sale department numbers and still had to send the documentation for the 2nd to Chase.  Twice.  They finally copped to getting them on the 3rd.  And told me that different departments will handle each loan.
- This week: Called six numbers at Chase again; sent parts of the document package that they said they didn't have again.  Was told that a processor has been assigned for the first loan.  Left him a message.
Actually, I don't think this is all that bad.  I just plan on spending a half an hour, minimum, on the phone with Chase for little bites of info.