I was on the phone with a listing agent yesterday. He told me, "I am still collecting offers," and he said, "I am going to send you a counter offer." I have heard this a million times before. A listing agent doing his job in collecting the absolute best offer he can for is client. However, this home in particular is a short sale...a wonderful property in Southern California...just a shade under 2,000 sf, with a nice swimming pool...a swimming pool that we have never seen because the listing agent will not allow us to gain access to the home because tenants reside in the home. My clients love the home. So, we wait...we hope for the best.
The problem is that the listing agent does not have a good grasp of the short sale process. He is working under a set of rules that just don't apply right now. When the home is a short sale, the home owner does not make the ultimate selling decision. This decision is made by the bank. The bank gathers all of the information and then makes a decision (which they send back to the listing agent for selecting the offer).
The process of a short sale:
1.) List the property
2.) Gather financial documents (to show financial hardship)
3.) Accept an offer
4.) Submit "short sale package" (#2 & #3)
5.) Decision about financial hardship (2-6 weeks)
6.) Decision about price (2-6 weeks)
a. Appraisal
b. BPOs
7.) Lender Approval
The listing agent should have submitted the offer to the bank so that #5 could be started. Instead, we are stuck in limbo...having waited weeks since submitting the offer...knowing that weeks of waiting lie ahead of us.
For now, my clients wait...I wait. Feeling somewhat paralyzed by the idea of getting the house that we want, but not knowing. There are a lot of land mines that we have to navigate in the coming weeks (2 approvals, inspections, tenants, etc...). Ultimately, we are waiting on a home that may not even be for sale.
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