For several shorts sales in the Sussex County, NJ, area, I've had great interactions with Chase. On Monday, I faxed a best-and-final offer, a net worksheet, copy of check and mortgage preapproval, updated seller financials, etc. Chase has already agreed to a short sale of the property in Hamburg and had 2 interior BPOs done. So, all should be ready to roll.
Wrong!
I just phoned to confirm receipt and learned that the Chase corporation is doing work on or replacing its computer systems. Employees will be unable to access details on any loans until at least July 8. According to the very polite gentleman in the Short Sale department, Chase decided to schedule this conversion to include a holiday weekend.
But one is talking about a least a week! And this does not just apply to the Short Sale section.
So, do not attempt to call Chase for any mortgage-related reason before July 8, 2009!
Save yourself some agony...
Copyright © 2009, Irene Kennedy, all rights reserved. This blog post from http://www.realtorirene.com/ represents Irene's personal musings.
Considering selling a home or looking to buy one around Sussex County, NJ? Benefit from creative marketing, top negotiating skills and vast real estate knowledge by contacting Irene via the data to the right or http://www.homesirene.com/.
Irene Kennedy, who is a NJ real estate agent with Weichert, Realtors, lives in Sussex County & works from the Hamburg office. Her primary market includes: Augusta, Branchville, Crystal Springs, Frankford, Franklin, Hamburg, Hampton, Hardyston, Highland Lakes, Lake Mohawk, Newton, Ogdensburg, Scenic Lakes, Sparta, Sussex, Vernon, Wantage. With her vast network, however, Irene Kennedy also can help you find an equally talented real estate agent elsewhere.
Maybe they are just saying this to furlough some employees and save money? (hee, hee). Thanks for the tip. I do have a few WaMu/Chase short sales that I guess will have to wait until next week :-)
wow- this year will go down in History!
Hard to believe stories popping up every day on short sale negotiations. Good luck with this transaction.
Melissa,
The great news is that you get a live person immediately! Of course, given a call takes 2 minutes as the cannot actually do any business.
Can you imagine how slammed those folks will be after at least a week?
Geoffrey,
Wanna bet on July 9, they'll have issues because of glitches in the new system...
Roy,
Ain't just a short sale issue. Anyone with a mortgage there will face the same problem. As I said, I've had good interaction with Chase on shorts, so I fully expect things to zip right along once they have access to their own information...
Irene, I wasn't aware about this from Chase. Thanks for the heads up!!
Irene,
Just whey you think the banks can't perform any worse, this happens. We should all be glad they're not in real estate.
Rich
Amazing...
Guess Chase didn't believe in redundant or back up systems. Whoever their IT staff is, they are probably gettting reamed for not adequately preparing for this. Wow.
Gary - I had no idea either and they were a little cagey about when this actually began. Very pleasant, however.
Rich - I'm hoping their new system will take care of all the old snafus and my short sales will be all smooth sailing.
Carlos - Unbelievable what can occur with some deals. As I said, I've been lucky but clearly you had a very different experience!
Pacita - Must say the phone staff was VERY prepared to handle calls. Had a smooth and concise explanation for the lack of ability to actually do any work. But yeah, someone is clearly in hot water!
Just out of curiosity, when you submit a best-and-final offer, what percentage of these short sales do you actually close? Also, why do you submit a copy of the check?
Satar,
I've only had 1 of my shorts sales fall apart; bank agreed but the PMI company insisted sellers sign a repayment agreement for a small percentage of the deficit. Sellers refused, so home became unsellable and was taken off the market. (I haven't lost any shorts where I represented the buyers only.)
Many listing agents just submit all offers - sometimes without negotiating at all - thinking the bank should handle any counters. (Personally, I think that contributes to the poor responses from the banks and increases delays.) I always let the lender know what the original offer was and that what I'm submitting is the best outcome after negotiations.
Copy of the check? Same reason I submit the preapproval. The bank deserves all supporting documentation for the deal. I know customs vary in different areas, but don't you send sellers a copy of the check with all offers?
Wow -- thanks for lettin us know, Irene. I think my husband's mortgage payment is through Chase -- maybe he can pay it late without penalty? LOL
(Yes, we have separate mortgage payments, btw. We do live in the same house though.)
Lori,
Why is it I suspect that Chase will be right on top of every dime it is due - computers or not? As long as your mortgage arrangement works for you two, hats off!
You know, I have to say (and I am the only one that thought this) it sounds a bit fishy to me. Sounds like a way of putting everything on hold.
Do I sound suspicious? Yep, you bet when a bank is involved.
Great job on your short sales by the way!
Andrea,
Even my brother, who is in Wall Street finance, said he smells a rat... Guess we'll know by this time next week!
Thanks Irene for the response. To answer your question, in a short sale situation, I do not ask for an earnest deposit nor do I submit anything outside of the purchase contract to the seller's lender. thanks again. As far as I am concerned, the buyer can hold onto their deposit until we get approval.
Amiri,
I think one reason I get rapid action and good results is because of the full package I provide. Most banks provide a list of "required" items, generally far more than the contract. You might think it okay for a buyer not to make a deposit, but most banks might disagree.
As a listing agent, I would not want my sellers to sign any offers without a deposit and a mortgage preapproval, so an offer such as yours would never become a contract. It, therefore, would not even be something I'd then forward to a bank for consideration.
If the banks are accepting your packages and you are having success closing your deals, however, so be it!
Irene, well at least they scheduled the work to inlcude a holiday weekend! Like the real estate community, they take them off! Ha!
Well, although I would've workeda lot more this weekend, Pat, neither my buyers or sellers were like minded! So, I've profited by working through some AR bookmarks and tweaking, having a great 4th with Chip and some friends and readying myself to reopen negotiations tomorrow. A voodoo-deal. Totally dead but now showing minor signs of life...
Hope you're having a wonderful weekend too, Pat!
I have a client thatmade an offer on a SHORT SALE and the offer was sent to Chase two weeks ago
now they said that the short sale department is been moved to California and we have to resend the offer to a different fax number. This probably will delay things.
Have you heard anything about this?
WE are buyers for a short sale property in the Phoenix area and have been told that the Chase Bank approval is being delayed because of this "computer conversion" that is going on. This is now been going on since two weeks. Never mind that we are patiently waiting since 4.5 months. We moved to Phoenix 2 months ago from NC, our stuff is in storage (costing us "only" $ 500 p. month!) and we will have to move out of our temporary rental by the end of Aug. at the latest. We have already missed two deadlines set by the first lien-holder and will hopefully get an extension again. WE really want the house and will hang in there a little longer, but it certainly does test our patience. Has anybody heard if Chase is done? What about this rumor that the short sale department is moving to CA. Will that delay things further? This is so extremely frustrating. Any suggestions from experts how to endure this and how to get some control over this as the buyer?
Juan,
I have not heard about the move to California but perhaps that was part of the "computer issue" that Chase told me about.
For a short sale listing I have, I faxed the package with the offer on Monday, June 29 - about the same time you mention. On Thursday, July 9, I called the Chase short sale department. Computers were again working and they quickly verified my package of June 29 had been received, processing begun and all was well.
So even in the same timeframe you mention, I didn't face any delays or have to refax to a different number. Perhaps the listing agent for your deal had not sent it to the correct department to begin with and is blaming Chase for his/her error?
Gudrun,
First, I'm sorry to say that as a potential buyer, you do not have any control over the short sale process once your contract has gone to the bank. My heart goes out to you - you're having a really tough time getting the home you want!
As I indicated in comment #25, I called Chase's short sale department on July 9, the day after they had told me everything would be up and running. Even the package I had faxed at the start of the computer change was in the system and being processed. On the 9th, Chase's service was prompt, efficient and smooth. The gal even said we'd have a response based on our June 29 submission, not the later date when the computers were running again!
Now you mentioned that Chase holds the second mortgage on the property you want to buy. Keep in mind that the junior lien holder has to wait to see what the primary mortgage company has to say. So it does take longer when there are multiple loans on the property.
I'm hoping you get a positive response really quickly - please leave a note so we can follow your progress!
Irene,
Thank you so much for your words of understanding. The first lien holder (Wells Fargo) has already approved in the beginning of June. We already went through two extentions on their part with the second expiring this Friday. On Monday (July 13) the sellers realtor I was told still received a response from Chase that the computers were down and it could take until Monday, the 20th. Strange!
Gudrun,
I just directly phoned my assigned short-sale negotiator at Chase. He said the computers were fixed on July 8, as expected and there have been no further computer problems.
Maybe the Seller's Agent meant to say that the problems early this month caused a delay with a decision on your package and that you will have a final response by July 20. That wouldn't be bad - just another 5 days.
Wouldn't that be wonderful for you?
When I listed this property, everyone at Chase was so cooperative, even prviding me with a direct contact in the short sale department. I submitted an offer on June 24 and have been ignored every since. They sent an appraiser out who valued the property far too high, and have been ignoring every since I showed them comparables proving such. The Chase representative has outright lied to the homeowner. I really want to help this seller avoid foreclosure. If this property foreclosures, it will sell for less than half of what this current buyer is willing to pay.
To all,
the latest word that I have received on the property we made an offer on is that the file has gone to the recovery department (whatever that means?) and that at this point there was no telling what kind of time frame we are looking at as far as approving this short sale is concerned. We are about ready to leave this prospective behind and move on to something else if we don't see progress very soon. It is sad in my husband's and my opinion that there are buyers out there interested in these short sale properties but we can't even buy the house we want because of these silly internal policies (I suspect to get more money out of the seller before releasing liens) Chase Bank and others are enforcing. This all after JP Morgan Chase is reporting record gains and received bail out money in the billions. Where are the middle class people that have been hit by this housing crisis the worst? Moving short sales along faster would also help the housing market tremendously in our humble opinion. In Phoenix, still without a house....
Gudrun
Harmony,
So sorry to hear about your troubles with this listing of yours! Your experience with Chase is very different from any that I've had with the same bank. Frustrating.
As you're a real estate agent, consider becoming a member of ActiveRain. I learn things every day that help me with my real estate dealings - bet you would too!
Oh, Gudrun,
I was hoping you had wonderful news for us. I'm saying a prayer that the July 20 date you were given is for a positive response. Maybe on Monday, you'll be getting the decision you deserve!