Short-Sale Process Broken, Pushing Central Valley Families into Foreclosure ... - Business Wire (press release)

The survey gauges Realtors®' experience working with lenders in their most recent transaction. Realtors The majority of those surveyed dealt with short-sale transactions – transactions in which the lender or lenders agree to accept less than the mortgage amount owed by the current homeowner. Lenders are out of touch with the realities of the market and the consequences to struggling homeowners, and the result is unnecessary foreclosures that only make California's economic problems worse, hindering a desperately needed recovery. Some REALTORS® even indicated that the lender foreclosed on the home before the short-sale transaction could be completed. Some specific REALTOR® comments from the survey include: "Bank will not come down on price; home needs work, but the bank is being unrealistic. They refused to pay common seller closing costs and repeatedly demanded paperwork that had been sent previously. And, half of respondents said it took the lender more than five days to return any form of communication. Overall satisfaction with the lenders REALTORS® worked with in their most recent short-sale transaction remains extremely poor, with 77 percent saying they were "not satisfied" or "not at all satisfied. The news conference held today in Fresno highlighted a specific case in which a homeowner has been trying to short sell his home since August 2009. After losing two potential buyers in contract, his lender convinced him to revisit a short sale, but later demanded a cash contribution of $2,000 as a condition of short-sale approval and that he sign a promissory note for a new, unsecured loan of $8,000. Additionally, the bank has reappraised the home for an amount 31 percent higher than the initial appraisal, which was conducted only about a year prior. The homeowner now has a third buyer in contract but faces foreclosure because the bank is unwilling to consider another appraisal. This survey is a follow-up to a survey conducted in December 2010. The latest survey findings show that the situation has not materially improved in the six months since C. BookmarkNewsvineDiggMySpacePermalinkPermalinkTo save a permanent link to this news, right-click (Ctl-click on a Mac) and choose the command to copy the link, link location or shortcut.