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Countrywide Short Sales - What You Need To Know
Countrywide is the largest mortgage company in the US…think they are dealing with a short sale problem at the moment? You betcha. (not to mention short sales of their stock! Wish I had shorted them at $40!)
Countrywide’s Full Spectrum Lending division was the King of awful sub prime mortgages the past few years, and now those loans are going bad. If you have a countrywide loan and are facing foreclosure, a short sale of your home might be your best option.
I did a short sale of my home (and I had a first and second mortgage on the property) earlier this year. It can be done, but it requires patience and a plan and a little help. There are a zillion schmucks out there who will offer to “help” you when your down. Some are legit, most are not.
What I Did In My Short Sale
What I did (hiring a real estate agent with short sale experience) worked for my situation. It may not for your short sale, but I found it the best option. Working with a real estate agent you at least can get a background on the person, and if they work for a larger brokerage you know they have resources to help you. Think short sales are hard for you? They are equally as hard on the real estate agent! Getting a short sale deal done (especially right now with the overwhelmed lenders like Countrywide) takes alot of work. I do think its the best option vs. foreclosure though. You can also read my 7 steps to a successful short sale guide.
Need an experienced Agent?
From my blog here I’ve developed a pretty extensive network of real estate agents that have short sale experience. If you’d like a referral, fill out the form below and I’ll get back to you in a day or two with a agent who can help with your short sale (don’t just go with any agent to short sell your home!)
on September 21st, 2007 at 5:54 am
How did the short-sale impact your personal income tax situation? This to me would be a huge concern, especially if I were already in a tax trap.
09/21/07
on March 4th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
I have been in the short sale process with Country Wide and we are on our fifth offer- they continuously change their mind on an approved number and recently the negotiator stated: we would rather the house go into foreclosure- we will make more money….?” troubling……..
any advice???
on March 20th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Stephanie,
First, what is the real value on the property and what to do you owe?
Second, are you late? how many months? do you live in the home?
Brennan
on March 28th, 2008 at 8:55 am
I tried to purchase a home that was a Countrywide short sale. After 3 months, we still haven’t gotten approval from Countrywide. Our contract expires today, for the second time (we already extended it once). We are now moving on, even though we have already put money into having it inspected and appraised. My suggestion would be to NOT try to buy a house that was a short sale, especially if the mortgage is through Countrywide.
on April 2nd, 2008 at 9:57 am
How short is the sale if you don’t mind me asking? We are dealing with the same scenario. We have been waiting on a reply for almost 60 days from Countrywide and we think the sale is less than 10K short.
on April 2nd, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Ours was short less than $10K as well. We have been told that the listing agent deals with a lot of short sales, and the only ones he’s been having trouble getting approved have been Countrywide.
on April 8th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
I’m waiting for a response on a home I want to buy short sale from Countrywide. We have been waiting since February 1.
on April 8th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Countrywide has gone through about 4 re-org’s and they still can’t get it right. I would keep shorting this stock if I where you. On the transaction I’m working with Counrtywide on they hold the second. The offer for the home came in at 750K from a retail customer. I called Countywide to see if they would except a 54K hit on the 200K second. I also did my best to explain, if they didn’t take it, my next offer to them would be about 5K on the 200K note. The home is worth about 500K in the market which wipes Countrywide out. Here is the funny thing, no one can make a decision and no one really want to. They are just going to let things drag and drag along. I would be suprised to see BoA cut the stings to these guys and take the loss.
on April 11th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I was working on a short sale as the selling agent. This was for a condo mortgaged with Countrywide. I was told today that as of April 1, they would not be doing anymore short sales.
on April 18th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Countrywide is one of the most difficult lenders to complete a short sale, however, the more experienced you are in negotiating these the easier they become. Be careful that you not only ask for a realtor’s help as they are a great start, a loss mitigation company who deals with these in volume can really speed up the process. And as for the legit ones out there I am sure they work with the agents as we do!
on April 22nd, 2008 at 3:19 pm
We have been waiting on areply from the 2nd got a counter offer two weeks post Og. offer @ 489k we complied and it is now foing on 3and 1/2 weeks and have still no word
on April 24th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Hello,
I currently have 2 homes. The first is a condo that I lived in for 3 years we tried to sell it twy years ago. Due to the market change we had to rent it out when we bought our 2nd home. We currently have an offer in and it’s been about 3 weeks. I guess they passed a new thing that if it’s not owner occupied then they won’t accept the short sale. I find this crazy that they would rather have it foreclose..Is this true? What should I do at this point
on April 28th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
my husband and i put an offer in on a countrywide short sale in December 07 we just found out that it was forclosed on and they did not accept the short sale. The bad part is that we got a verbal yes a month ago from one negotiator then it changed hands and went through three other negotiator before it was denied. five months is a long time to find out no when we were only 20k below her mortgage. How will the market improve if they son’t offload these houses?
on May 8th, 2008 at 6:12 am
This situation with country wide is out of control and the customers are being affected in different ways. I’am a country wide customer for more than five years always current on my payment until Last December I request help and I was denied. According to the retention department my family income was under the requirements therefore, I put my house for sale and found a customer for a short sale since February and every week I just get the same answer from contry wide that my loan it is waiting for approval. my concern is that the buyer no longer wants to wait and the deal is going daown the cracks!
on May 16th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
I am attempting to have countrywide ok a short sale on my home in Florida currently and after initially oking it they are now saying that they only “Service” the loan and that an actual other bank holds it and they will not ok the short sale unless we are behind in payments…. this sounds outragous to me as they are, in effect, asking them to not pay them…. has anyone else run into this problem? and if so what can be done….
It would be in EVERYone’s best interest to just ok the short sale because they will be losing less money….. the only other option would be for me to not pay them.
on May 22nd, 2008 at 7:08 pm
I hear you all I have been doing these short sales since August of 2007 for an Attorney here in Florida. Countrywide SUCKS. They lie, give you the run-around and then you find out that at the end of the line they are only the servicer of the loan. US BANK, N.A., or Deutsch Bank there are a couple more actually are the investors and own the loan. Of course, it didn’t come together until some of our clients started getting foreclosed on.
I don’t think that the people that work there actually know how to negotiate these short sales. I have got them to do Modifications that’s it. I call them every single day on my files, and I hear 30 days, 10 days, oh I can’t find your authorization. No negotiator you can’t talk to them, you have to e-mail them.
With all that said NO there is nothing you can do! The Lender does not have to work with you, it is not an obligation. But I feel, then they should not have said publicly they were helping homeowners.
See if you have any violations or are a victim of predatory lending, pull out your closing package. Fight them in foreclosure! Stay in your house and make them deal with you that way!
on May 22nd, 2008 at 11:24 pm
I am working on a short sale in FL. I got the same situation that they wouldnt do anything unless I was behind in payments…so i started paying it at 59 days…The realtor I have has said that they have had no issues with a short sale before but most problems with a short sale is that the people within the bank do not know what they are talking about and you have to keep asking for someone else until they give you what you want..Also, a verbal agreement unless recorded cannot be used it must be in writing or they can alter it. Our process just started and I have read many of these websites and I am very concerned with this process but have no choice due to many personal situations…
on May 23rd, 2008 at 12:06 am
That part is true they don’t know what they are talking about. Until your file is assigned a negotiator you are no where. I tell our clients that they can also call about their own loan# and speed up the process. You must call the right department. Calling customer service gets you nothing. They have different systems and different notes. In Loss Mit dept. they log in every phone call and every conversation. When you stop paying you will receive calls from CW, but that it is from the debt collection dept which is different than Loss Mit. dept. 800-669-6087.
on May 29th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
What’s happening with Countrywide and some other major lenders, is they’ve decided that it would be in their best interest to let many of their loans go into total default and foreclosure. If the borrower has PMI on the loan (mortgage insurance) it may make more sense for them in this market to foreclose on the property, collect the mortgage insurance, and then resell the property as the market improves. It’s an incredibly sad example of just how morally bankrupt, bottom-line driven, and unconcerned about customer care this nation’s business environment has become. I’m a professional Realtor with ton of experience. Countrywide is by far the worst company I’ve ever had to deal with. Customer care is practically non-existent, the work-out department is completely incompetent, the loss mitigation department is nothing more than a debt collection agency posing as Countrywide, and the company is clearly only interested in cutting losses and moving on - leaving many of their customer’s shattered lives in their wake. Very depressing indeed.
on May 29th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
I would suggest calling VP’s and all over countrywide. Search Google for Countrywide VP 800 you will get numbers and start calling … .you have nothing to lose!!!!
on May 30th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Countrywide is incredibly predatory. There is so much more behind the scenes that we, as sellers and Realtors, do not understand. Countrywide really prefers to foreclose. That is why they demand a higher than market value for a property. People who think that lenders would prefer a short sale to the greater loss of foreclosure just don’t know lender logic. Can anyone shed light on why Countrywide prefers foreclosure than to accept a really good market value offer before foreclosure?
on May 31st, 2008 at 6:01 am
I don’t see how that is really possible that CW or any other lender would want these houses especially in Florida sitting empty in foreclosure. We have clients that have stopped paying and trying to short sale since August of 2007. CW has not even started the foreclosure process! Why would they want a house to sit empty, have people destroy it, be liable if a child drowns in the pool and the property is in their name. I don’t see the motivation here. I believe CW is overwhelmed, understaffed, disorganized and not trained, they are sifting through hundreds of thousands of cases and maybe there is 2000 people in loss mitigation dept. to work on these files.
on May 31st, 2008 at 8:59 am
I’ve no doubt they are overwhelmed, but it’s a nightmare of their own making and IF that is the case, the should be jumping through hoops to help those who are bringing them short sales on a plate that they just have to glance at and approve. the short sale I am attempting with them is only $30K under the loan amount and only TEN under market value at the moment. they longer they wait and the longer they continue with this the market is going to keep going south and they will end up losing more money. Don’t they realize that it’s their continued apathy that is helping to FUEL the down turn?
on June 2nd, 2008 at 11:49 am
countrywide sent out an appraiser over 6 weeks ago to get an appraisal of the short sale property i want to buy…they still have not given us an answer and we have been dealing with them since February…Has anyone else had an appraisal done and still waiting? Also, does anyone have any successful stories of short sales with countrywide??
on June 2nd, 2008 at 8:40 pm
We’ve been dealing with CW for 4 months now and have extended the time of our initial offer twice. For three weeks we’ve been hearing it’s been verbally approved yet didn’t see anything officially “signed off” until today. They’ve FINALLY APPROVED the sale in WRITING.
Other than patience, the only other advice I would give buyers is to involve your lender. The seller gave our lender written permission to contact Countrywide and once he (our lender) called CW, action started to happen. Our lender was patient (having to deal with a bunch of different CW staff members) and finally got to the proper CW negotiator. He basically mentioned that we qualified for the loan and that we are ready to get the deal done. He asked if the offer was reasonable and was told yes. My lender also contacted the owners to get certain docs to CW and encouraged them to stay in communication with CW. I know 4 months is a long time but financially it was worth the wait for us. Once the appraiser checks it out, this is a done deal.
on June 4th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Fred:
Taht is great news for you!
Can you tell me how much loss they had to take on your seller’s loan value? We are buyers, and have been waiting on a short sale that is only $20K less than the owner owes since early March. We just found out 2 days ago that it is being appraised and we are hoping things start moving along now that the appraisal is happening. The house is in Katy, TX . I am wondering what my chances are of them approving the sale.
Tiffany
on June 5th, 2008 at 8:11 am
Tiffany,
From my understanding, they had a 80% primary and 20% second for 100% financing (home was purchased 5/07). We’ made an offer that was 14.2% lower than their purchase price.
Our initial offer was roughly 5K less than our purchase price (initial offer was made 12/27/07) and the appraisal was performed in January 2008. CW said no to the first offer so we walked. The seller called us up two weeks later stating if we add just a tiny more to the offer CW should accept so we added 5K on our offer made the first week of February.
I’m mentioning this to you because we’re getting the home 4 months after the appraisal. Had I known to get my lender involved earlier, I think I would have chopped off a month or two off that time period.
I would believe your chances are very good in obtaining the home because the cost of foreclosure is pricey to the bank (unless the avg home in Katy, TX is worth less than 100k).
Don’t be surprised if you have to wait a couple of months though.
Another item, the seller needs to get the proper docs to CW and should keep them ready to submit. The current owners of our purchase had to resubmit them a couple of times. If the sellers of the house that you’re interested in don’t stay on top of CW, this can drag the decision making by CW.
on June 5th, 2008 at 10:15 am
I just looked at my last post and realized I need to drink coffee before posting.
Our initial offer on 12/7/07 was 16.3% below what the home was purchased back in May of 2007. Appraisal was performed and the offer was rejected about a month later.
Our accepted offer (same house) was placed in the first week of February and was 14.2% below the May 2007 purchase price.
As far as the house you’re involved in:
It probably will go through but will take 2-3 months. It takes the CW investors (insurance) a while to determine if it’s better to foreclose or accept the offer.
I believe the house has to be the right fit for your family, a good deal and you must be willing to wait (yet stay on top on those involved). If one of these factors are missing and the time of your offer expired, I’d look elsewhere (or at least keep an eye out there on inventory). You can’t lock in a rate until CW accepts the offer and I hear the “I” word being bantered around a bit by economist.
I hope I’m not coming across like a “know it all”; rather somebody that went through this lengthy process. Based on how the loan market looks now (interest rates possibly going up), I don’t know if I’d be willing to start from scratch on a CW short sale.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the house and the price we’re getting it for but I don’t think I want to do a short sale again any time soon.
on June 8th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
I am a seller with a countrywide mortgage. My realtor and I just listed the property after calling countrywide and discussing short sale.
Since my equity vanished the day we listed the property, please help me understand why, as seller, I am concerned about the disposition of the home. I have never had anything like this happen to me before and am having trouble figuring out where this situation goes.
Can you change your mind and go with a deed in lieu if the short sale drags on for too long? Since I am not making mortgage payments, why would I want to do this? Is it that the credit score gets worse with each passing payment that doesn’t happen? Would the lender prefer this? If so why? Could the lender be thinking that they can hold property for long enough to reap the benefits of market recovery?
on June 8th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Question:
I have a house in California. I have a 500,000 first with countrywide; a 100,000 credit line with countrywide (taken out at time of purchase) and a 114,000 credit line taken out a year after purchase.
I owe about 700,000 total.
Right now, the house might sell for about 525,000.
I have a short sale realtor helping me.
in your opinions–what do you think the chances are that a short sale will work with these numbers?
also…i am an agent who bought at the top of the market and kind of overstated my income to get the house. what risk do I run of not meeting the hardship test?
on June 8th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Hardship….
It doesn’t matter if you overstated your income then or not. The fact of the matter is, as a realtor you definitely are NOT making the money you were then. They want to see 2 months bank statements, current pay stubs, your monthly expenses, has anyone given you the forms to fill out for the lender? There is a list of items that the lender needs to see if you qualify. One of them is a financial statement. They need to know what you make and ALL your expenses. They want a hardship letter, a letter stating what has changed that you cannot afford the house.
on June 10th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
From the first call to Countrywide to let them know I would not be able to pay on time or keep up with payments in the future until now 9 months have past and our short sale finally closed. We went through all of the hurdles of work out inlcuding: repayment plan ( would actually raise monthly payments), loan modification (would actually raise payments), deed-in lieu ( 10 weeks to be denied), Short-sale ( 4 weeks to offer, 90 days until assigned negotiator, 1 month to approval without counter, then 2 weeks to closing). Wow…hard to sum up all of the frustration involved here. Learned alot during the process. Short about 100k from owed balance, but only 20k of of the BPO in this sluggish market. Near full payoff for 1st mortgage lender (Countrywide), and 3000 “buyout” for 2nd mortgage lender (Countrywide). I am an agent and the seller unfortunatly and fortunatly. There are many key factors that led to the success and here are just a few: Follow up on everything, and verify everything (after my attempt at deed-in-lieu our file for that was never revised so when we had our short-sale offer come in our file sat in limbo for 60 days until one of the managers I spoke to discovered that by all appearances the file ahd been assigned when actually it was still stuck in the deed-in-lieu under the old negotiator’s supervision. Once that was corrected it took 30 more days to be assigned to a negotiator for short-sale); a patient buyer (mine was 76 years old and paying cash…thank the lord for him); do everything asked of you timely; a dedicated representative/agent (this is where it can be tough because it takes so so so much time calling, holding, and wondering); work toward getting the negotiator’s direct extention (once you have that you can get to them directly by calling 866-788-8495 then dial 1 then dial their extention. If it is busy or a recording comes on that says they are unavailable hangup and call back every 3 to 5 minutes. You will get them this way for sure. You will never speak to them through the normal system); Finally, be kind when you call. Otherwise you risk being placed in the back of the line so to speak. Best of luck to you all……..
on June 12th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
How do you find out who the negotiator is and their contact information?
I have asked the Short Sale Support group and no one will answer that questions.
on June 12th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Assuming you are the home owner, you need to keep calling, and calling. You will be told that the negotiator will be assigned in so many days or weeks. Keep following up more often than the timeframes you are given and ask if it has been assigned to a negotiator each time first. The first time you are told a timeframe and that timeframe expires without being abrupt or rude insist on speaking with that departments manager. You might have to wait but do so. Once the manager is on the phone you need to do a couple of things: Clarify the expected timeframe until a negotiator will be assigned, Second, verify with that manager that they have absolutely everything they will need. All of the sudden you will hear on one call that YES you do have a negotiator, but they will contact you in a certain number of days. At that time you must get their name (proper spelling & extention. This will be the key to contacting them directly. When you do speak with your negotiator they will be short, businesslike, and direct. Make sure to do EXACTLY what they are asking and if you are not absolutely sure what they are asking for make sure it is clear before you get off the phone. Believe me they do want your file to get resolved and go away just like you and they do not want to repeat steps. Hope this helps you…Good luck to you
on June 13th, 2008 at 8:01 am
I just got an appraisal completed after waiting several months, we plan on inspections being completed if CW accepts our offer- how does CW handle negative inspections- will they be willing to cover any significant issues? The sellers realtor told us they believed CW would but from what I am reading another negotiation will just add more time to the clock.
on June 13th, 2008 at 8:10 am
Not that I have ever seen. You should be dealing onlywith ASIS contracts.
on June 13th, 2008 at 8:37 am
AS-IS Where-is and the best no hassle payment arangements possible are what the bank will be looking for. Your offer in my opinion should be reflective of the property in AS-IS sale. Any time you expect to change or renegotiate a contract it will delay things…now compund that in the short-sale situation and it might doom your approval. When you are contacted by the negotiator finally they will ask you to verify, and update any information so they can submit for approval. Lets say your inspection does not take place until after the negotiator has received an approval, you will be told that you have been approved for X amount and you are not approved for anything else without a resubmitting for approval. That’s were it could fall appart.
on June 13th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Thank you for the info!!!! We trusted the sellers’s realtor who is not very savvy with short sales and they said essentially it was still being purchased from the seller so we should wait to do inspections after an offer is accepted. The contract was not drafted “as is where is” but with an inspection clause and we never completed our inspections. Since the process has take so long I started doing my own research and found this website. It appears we were lucky to get a negiotiator assigned (it took 2 months), the last we heard the seller was suppose to call with a financial update and two weeks later no one has returned any phone calls to the seller. I don’t have authorization and the sellers realtor says that she calls daily for an update with no response, we have the negotiators name but they will not provide the seller with a direct telephone number or email. So we all just leave messages.
on June 13th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Henry-
We are in the same boat as you except we are the sellers. I call countrywide daily and they always give me the run around. I finally got to a managers voicemail today so hopefully I get a call back. Our short sale was sent up in March the offer and the package is complete. The Appraisal was done 2 months ago and a negotiater was assigned May 7th. I was first told 7 days, then 15 days, finally 30 days for a negotiator to get back with us. Hopefully we get a call today…
Nicoel
on June 13th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Try this Nicole:
Call how you normally do and transfer to the Foreclosure department. This is where I was given the contact info for the negotiator. It seems as though once you are out of the “Workout” department and the other departments are not handling your file they are more willing to review information and disclose it to you. Maybe it is brings them some satisfaction in circumventing the “Workout circle”.
As for Henry:
You are entitled to talk to the true seller in a short-sale which is the bank. Ask the selling agent/seller to submit your info to the bank so that they will answer your questions directly. All they have to do is fax them a letter of authorization that explains their wish to have you added to the file for information disclosure. They can put limitations on financial information since that is really not your business, but simply allow you to get answers or a feel of inclusion first hand.
Good luck
on June 13th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Thank you. I guess we are stuck waiting to see what happens with the initial offer since I don’t want to risk changing terms now, unfortunately the house is detiorating rapidly and we would have put in a much lower offer had we decided to take as is.
on June 13th, 2008 at 11:38 am
If Countrywide is in a second position, ask that the first lien holder to get their attorney involved, this will speed up the process. If Countrywide is in a first, have your attorney to send a letter. Countrywide will react to the legal threat as a priority. Don’t call and say “I’m going to get an atty” just get one to send a letter. They have an official short sale dept at 1-800-262-4218. It takes 15 to 30 days from the time an negotiators is assigned, but again with an atty, they seem to get right on it.
If your going to do a short sale on a Countrywide loan – SUBMIT your paper work ASAP! The clock starts the day you fax your paperwork in. 30 to 45 working days is what they quote. Make sure it is complete with tax returns. If your realtor is a short sale professional they should have a full short sale package for you and should be calling on your behalf everyday to “check in”.
on June 13th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
I made an offer on a Countrywide property on a short sale March 8 in Florida…not ONE word from them.. my agent called and they say they will call when they have time.
on June 14th, 2008 at 4:24 am
As the buyer or buyer’s agent you can be given authorization as I mentioned about in a previous post. SInce 3 months has gone by there is something wrong. Try going down that road and contacting them yourself and holding for a manager to expedite the process for your file.
on June 18th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
If I am approved for a short sale and the home is sold, does the lender have the right to come after me for the remaining balance at a later time?
on June 18th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Not unless you sign a paper as to that. What the title company will be looking for from your lender is a full satisfaction of the mortgage. If there are any other terms you would have to sign something agreeing to it. I have had clients that had to actually sign personal notes for lenders in order to make the deal go. Like one person owed 30 the bank made them sign a note for $10,000. Another one owed $70,000 on the 2nd had to sign a personal note for $20,000. Those were all on the 2nd mortgages though they have never asked for that on the 1st.mortgage.
on June 18th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Staying Positive Said…
“When you do speak with your negotiator they will be short, businesslike, and direct.”
When I call, they tell me the name of the negotiator, but I have YET been able to speak to them directly. How do you even get to the negotiator once they’ve been assigned. I’ve called so many times and I’m extremely frustrated.
CW is the 2nd mortgage holder on the property and it’s been under contract since Jan, with CW having ALL of the info needed including the appraisal since mid-April and I can’t get anywhere with them… The foreclosure is due to happen next week and all I need is a letter from them stating that they will accept the short sale to delay for 30 days. I have a CASH buyer, but I just can’t get an answer from CW. I am extremely frustrated.
on June 21st, 2008 at 8:06 am
Countrywide is taking a LONG TIME lately to make decisions. Earlier this year it was a 30-60 day wait. Now we have one that is coming up over 60 days with still no answer. It is crazy. When we send out the packages they are COMPLETE (very important or else they won’t look at it). They ordered BPOs very quickly but have not assisgned negotiators yet. We call a couple of times a week in the hopes that someone will give us a better answer. They are losing so much more money by not streamlining this process.
By the way, we’ve closed short sales through other lenders in 30-45 days. These were all in the Cape Coral / Ft. Myers areas.
Countrywide is one of the most time consuming right now for sure.
And with so many loans through them I don’t see it getting any better until they work on their systems.
on June 22nd, 2008 at 11:20 am
Great, but depressing, website.
With the documented problems of obtaining a short sale from Countrywide, why not just go to foreclosure?
It appears that with the delay everyone has experienced that buyers vanish and the eventual outcome is foreclosure anyway.
What are the actual negatives of forclosure?
on June 22nd, 2008 at 2:35 pm
To Long John Silver
When I read this information, your question is the same one that I had. It seems so unlikely that Countrywide will ever approve a short sale and you live in the home longer, possibly without having to make a payment and therefore at least somewhat recovering some of your lost investment, what is the problem with letting it go to foreclosure.
I questioned several different mortgage lenders about the impact on your credit score of this whole mess. Answers varied a little, but basically, the majority indicated that credit-score-wise a short sale=a deed in lieu=foreclosure. That each would cost you between lows of 125 points (the rarity) to 300 points. Most said between 200-300 points regardless of how the situation resolved itself.
Some have said that the benefit of a short sale is that the lender has basically agreed to absolve you of the remaining debt, having signed off on the sale. A deed in lieu or a foreclosure did not specifically address that issue. Still, if you are unable to make your house payment, pursuing you for further funds seems a waste of effort.
The best information that I can get seems to be from this website (which is sad indeed) and considering how many people are facing this situation these days….that is quite a commentary isn’t it?
I wonder if the other people posting to this website have any better information than we have.
on June 24th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Countrywide will quote you:
30-45 days to get the file into the hands of an actual decision maker
From there
They have 15 days to call you
These are all business days, so you’re looking at 6 to 9 weeks before you get to your negotiator.
If you have a good realtor that knows the short sales process they will be calling every day. Yes, every day. Countywide will lose faxes, “misplace” documents like Hud1’s, offers, etc to slow the process. We all know these are unethical business practices. But whoever said Countrywide was an ethical company? (Look for a class action in 12 to 24 months?)
I’m sorry to say you have to be very organized, keep notes, keep fax confirmations, let them know : I have a fax confirmation from June 11th at 1:30pm and June 16th at 11:43am that says 26 pages sent “confirmed”. Where is the fax?
Also – They change fax numbers weekly – The current number I was sent as of June 24th is 888-491-4947.
GET AGGRESSIVE! Don’t sit waiting for this bank to call you. 9 millions loans, 900K in foreclosure, don’t get lost in the shuffle.
Brennan Watkins
Coldwell Banker Arizona
on July 2nd, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Does Countrywide go for a Deficiency Judgment?
In the state of Oregon?
on July 2nd, 2008 at 4:52 pm
I wish that I had found this blog months ago, as my husband and I were starting the short sale process with Countrywide. I am glad to know we are not alone in our frustrations. We are on our third offer and it looks like this one might walk, too.
I have a question for those who have survived this process…how long does the approval process take once the negotiator approves the offer? We are currently at this spot and as usual, Countrywide is giving us the run around. We feel like we see the light at the end of the tunnel. Problem is, our buyer will walk as of Monday if they don’t have an answer. I was under the impression that once the negotiator says “okay” we could go into escrow.
Any advice would be welcome!
on July 2nd, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Rebecca,
where are you in the process?
What state do you live in.
Do you have more than one loan?
This week CW seems to be stepping it up.
They are calling me instead of me calling them on the files I have.
on July 2nd, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Hello,
In response to LJS regarding deficiency judgements….when my short sale closed I ended up $100K short and they didn’t ask for anything to cover that and did not file for a judgement. The “demand letter” they provided actually states the agreement that they will accept the offer amount to release the mortgage lien, and require $0 dollars from the seller.
That is Illinois, but the state law here does not prohibit deficiency judgements.
on July 2nd, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Rebecca,
Once was assigned a negotiator and she had reviewed and approved that all the required documentation was in (about 5 days) she realized that the second mortgage file that was also with them was assigned to a different negotiator and had to request that it be transferred to her to submit for both together (this took 2 weeks). Once she had it she submitted and we had approval without a counter in 5 days. Explain this to your buyer and explain that they are within a week or two of an approval. The process of starting over for them will take at least that long if not 30 days. One more thing…when the negotiator submits for approval the numbers on your estimated HUD1 that you provided are the numbers that they will go by without exception. If you need to revise your tax prorations or anything else that might change in 2-3 weeks do so before it is submitted for lender approval or you will have to bring the difference to closing yourself.
Good luck
on July 2nd, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Hello Everybody,
Countrywide has been nothing but a headache. My property went up for Short Sale March 1st- Had a Buyer by April 1st with offer in. The Appraisal was done April 15th with no negotiator assigned. They told me it would be 15 business days until the negotiator was assigned. My file was finally assigned on June 7th. Since June 7th I have spoke with somebody at Countywide daily getting the same reponse..Your account is being reviewed..I have been transferred to 3 different managers voicemails never got a call back. On three different occations they sent an email to the negotiator and according to their guidelines the negotiator only has 5 days to respond. I never got a response. The Realtor that we are using is totally Lazy. I found the buyer and making all the calls while she sits back and tells me to be patient. When I first started using her she said this process would only take 3-5 weeks max..I was totally mislead and wish that I wouldv’e just foreclosed.
on July 2nd, 2008 at 9:03 pm
To:
fed up with countrywide!!!!
Put everything you just said to us in writing and fax it to:
SUPERVISOR of Loss Mitigation
at 1-800-658-0395. Don’t put the part about your realtor because they don’t care. Just wrap up the letter with I’m hoping that someone can help me before I lose this buyer.
Are you behind in your payments?
on July 3rd, 2008 at 6:09 am
CG,
As to where we are in the process: the appraisal was done May 6th, we were assigned our negotiator around May 30th, we have heard that our negotiator has approved this last offer, and now it has been sent to management/investors for the final approval. Who are these people and do you know if this is the final step? They have had the approved offer for 5 business days. Our agent is trying to keep the buyers on board but as I said before they want to walk on Monday. Our negotiator is not returning our emails and we can’t get anywhere over the phone. I feel like we’re so close!
Our house is in Southern CA and we also have a small home eq loan. Both are with Countrywide.
Stayin Positive,
our HUD1 is up to date and submitted with the offer
Thanks to both for your responses…maybe today is the day?
on July 3rd, 2008 at 6:23 am
We started emailing our negotiator once we got his name, although countrywide told us he didn’t have external email (can you belive that?). We figured out that his email is
firstname_lastname@countrywide.com
Our agent then directly emailed him our offers so that they wouldn’t get lost is some pile somewhere. We think that has helped a bit.
Also my husband lost it on the phone one day (Countrywide would not put our agent through to our negotiator) and after much yelling and screaming, they put my husband through to the negotiator. The negotiator wasn’t happy to be talking with a seller but he called our agent right away. At least we were on their radar.
on July 3rd, 2008 at 7:00 am
We’ve been dealing with Countrywide since February 1 for a short sale home we want to buy. We finally thought we would be going to settlement. Countrywide countered our offer. We went up and then we were told it was approved and the final paperwork was in the process of being completed. That was 3 weeks ago. On Monday, my realtor called to tell me that Countrywide now wants to do a COMPARISON appraisal from the original one they did almost 3 months ago. This being after our offer was supposedly “ACCEPTED.” This cannot get any more ridiculous. I am thinking of hiring an attorney because I do not feel anyone is doing anything for us to get Countrywide moving alone. Anyone else hire an attorney?
on July 6th, 2008 at 9:12 am
FV,
We have had that same response, so even though we are on timeon our payments and even paying extra, we then stopped paying so they would probably listen to us.
Kiko
on July 7th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
We have an investment property that is currently rented. The mortgage is a subprime Neg am loan. Currently the balance is abour 475K (and rising monthly), the houses in that area are now listing for about 200K. We have a potential buyer for a short sale who would probably be patient about the process. Should we even bother starting the process with Countrywide for a short sale. I’m hearing that they may not even do it because its investment prop. and that it takes so long that forclosure may be easier? And any consequences like repayment?
This is our second month not paying the mortgage. We were told by the loan modification department that you had to be deficient.
Thanks, Stef
on July 8th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Dang. Interesting site. We put an offer on a country wide short sale on June 2nd. Our agent added this ‘Short Sale Addendum’ document to our offer which stated we wanted some response from the bank by June 27th. I was frustrated that we hadn’t heard a peep from them regardless of the fact that the selling agent calls every day. She is always just told that it has not been assigned yet. However, after reading this forum looks like my little piddly 5 week wait is NOTHING!! Looks like we are in for many months more waiting if we want this one. We are in Northern California near Sacramento so it is a really hard hit area… so probably means there is even more waiting then normal…
Funny thing is that the sellers have not made a payment for 6 months, and still no NOD filed!! The house has been on the market since January and we are the ONLY offer. Fun times. Can’t wait to see how this turns out. Luckily we are in no hurry and will be worth the wait if we get this house for this price!! The info on this site is great… Thanks!
on July 10th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Ugh! This makes me want to scream.
We put an offer in on a house June 30th and we did not know it was a short sale. Apparently even the selling agent didn’t know about the sellers 2nd mortgage with CW (not sure I really believe that). We were then told the sellers agent spent all day on the phone with the lenders and the short sale was approved for our asking price. The seller signed the contract and we had an inspection done Tuesday. At that time the sellers agent said they expected to hear from the bank by Friday which would be about a two week turn around. Of course I’m not holding my breath, but is this even a plausable story? The home is in KC, MO and the 1st is not with Countrywide just the 2nd. I’m guessing they are only 10-20K short and our offer was about 90% of what we think the market value is (in MO it’s hard to get good numbers for that). What should expect and what can I do as the buyer if anything?
on July 10th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
“Author: KC77Comment:Ugh! This makes me want to scream. We put an offer in on a house June 30th and ….”
That is a pipe dream …. CW takes at least 3 months for a first, longer on seconds. There are law’s around disclusure and that agents needs to get all the facts before listing a home for sale. I am sorry to say … sellers sometimes are not the most honest people in the world either.
Brennan
on July 13th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Hello,
Here is my situtation. The offer has been in since April for $230,000 dollars. Appraisal was done for the same amount. Everytime I call countrywide I get the same story..The negotiator is currently reviewing the file. My negotiator has been reassigned 3 times. Yasmin was assigned for about 1 month…I left her and her manager 3 voicemails no response back. Now once again the Negotiator has been resassigned to Anthony Palma. The buyer I know personally and he is ready to walk away. My Realtor sits back waiting for her commission. She says she calls Countrywide once a week..Which I find hard to believe because when I send her an email it takes her at least 1 week to respond. Hopefully we get a response this week from the lender with a yes or no.
Nicole
on July 13th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Does anyone know what is going on with Countrywide short sales now that Bank of America is taking over? I put an offer on a short sale in So. Ca about 2 months ago and haven’t heard anything. I first heard the house didn’t have a negotator. Then they found a negotiator and she was supposed to get laid off last week.
on July 14th, 2008 at 7:50 am
Author: Brennan “That is a pipe dream …. CW takes at least 3 months for a first, longer on seconds. There are law’s around disclusure and that agents needs to get all the facts before listing a home for sale. I am sorry to say … sellers sometimes are not the most honest people in the world either. ”
I know that every file is different and I know many people who post on sites like this are posting b/c they are mad at how things went for them….I haven’t seen posts of any who were happy, but I guess the happy ones are just too busy moving into their new homes.
Since my post I have found that the seller is not very short at all (around 5K) and CW was charging excessive pre-pay fees etc. and basically raking the seller over the coals for a very small loan (as they have been known to do lately). With the deal as written with all commissions CW will still be getting over 50%. I’m guessing CW will be losing that fee money and try to lower the comissions a little, but both agents seem very sure they can get this done.
on July 14th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Some good news for those of you consumed with the stress of short-sale of your own property….I pulled my credit report today 45 days after our closing and to my suprise my credit score even after foregoing mortgage payments for the entire process has climbed back up 120 points now that debt shows paid in full with a statement of “Pays as agreed” and with a comment of “Paid account/Zero balance-Settlement accepted on this account”. What I am saying is hang in there. You will ask yourself why should I do this, why not just go into foreclosure…well seeing is believing and I am telling you it is already worth it. My middle credit score is already back up to 648. I plan to wait to purchase a home again until the market stabilizes, probably at least 2 years and in the mean time I am comforted with knowing my score will certainly climb into a good risk category again.
Good luck
on July 15th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
We have submitted an offer on a CW short sale. After reading all these posts, it seemed like it would be a good idea for me to try and get authorized to call CW directly to find out the status. As of right now we get all of our info from the listing agent and she says she calls once or twice a week. I asked my buyer agent to see if the sellers would list me, or him, or my lender (as Fred suggested above) as an authorized contact to call CW about this short sale. However, the listing agent said that she preferred to be the point of contact with the bank.
We submitted our offer to her at the beginning of June and then found out (after several emails/calls to her) that she did not submit the offer to CW until June 20th!!!!! She said she had trouble getting docs she needed from the sellers and that caused a delay, but still, there was no communication from her about this in those weeks in between. So this makes me not exactly trust her as the sole point of contact to get all this stuff moving along.
So far all we know is that CW did an appraisal last week. The listing agent says that CW has not assigned a work out coordinator yet and thus the appraisal has not been processed yet so they can’t give her any more info. I don’t expect it to get assigned any time soon seeing that the offer didn’t actually get submitted to CW until about 3 weeks ago.
But I have tried to call Countrywide anyway just to see if I could find anything out. I spent several hours calling many different numbers and got no where. I don’t want this to fall between the cracks. The sellers have not made a payment since January and are already out of the house, no NOD has been filed, and we are the only offer on the house so far.
If the listing agent won’t authorize me to call CW, is there anything else we can do to make sure all is in order?
Thanks….
Meiks
on July 16th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Meiks,
If you can get authorized it’s in your best interest. If not, know that countrywide has 45 business days to to assign a negotiator. “Business days” is key here, from there, the negotiator has 30 days to respond. So when you put in an offer, expect to wait 4 months to get the home. f you get it sooner, its upside,
on July 16th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Quick question at what point in the process would the HUD be sent to CW? I’m just trying to figure out where we actually are in the process. The sellers agent just sent the HUD to CW.
on July 16th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Ugh, here we go:
Trying to buy a CW Short Sale, So Cal, Inland Empire area. Offer is $210k, listing was $240k, and outstanding loan is approx $283k
Looked at the house, placed an offer 1/28/08.
Sellers accepted offer the next week.
CW took til April to counter (they didn’t even “officially” counter, they just wrote a memo stating the house was appraised for $230k, if we wanted to up our offer) We remained at $210k (house needs a new roof & A/C & Heating.)
CW “Approved” $210k on 4/28/08
And thats about it? Currently our file has been assigned I’m told by my Escrow Officer (who seems to be the only one in contact with the lender?!?!). She was told 2 weeks ago that the file “would be reviewd by the 4th”. The 4th came & went, and with no update to the file, Escrow officer has an “e-mail in to the supervisor” as of 7/8. She was told not to expect a reply for a week, Called back yesterday 7/15, and was told to try calling back Friday.
I’m now trying to get authorized to call Loss Mit. myself. Do I need an atty at this point? We keep getting told things that are simply not true.
on July 16th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
HUD1 should be sent within 48 hours after the agent receives the offer. That of course if you have a sharp agent. The offer get signed by the seller, goes the listed agents broker from approval, then gets sent to a title company. The title company generates the HUD1. The agent should fax the HUD1 to 1-888-491-4947. You have to call after 48 to confirm they recieved the fax. Note:Make sure the they have the account number on every page of the fax.
on July 16th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
If you have questions you can email me at Brennanwatkins@msn.com
on July 16th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
I have been waiting for two months for Countrywide to look at an offer regarding a short sale in MN and there hasn’t even been an appraisal ordered yet. It gets ordered then their system somehow cancels it. This has shortened the current home owner’s foreclosure redemption period by two months. Is there any legal ramifications against Countrywide or places to complain? We are about to lose the buyer.
The seller has only two months left of their redemption period. They have a first with CW, a second and a judgment/lien against the property with a credit card issue. It seems like a lot to work out when NOTHING has been done yet.
If the sale does not go through, can the current owner remain in the home after the redemption period, especially if the buyer is still interested? If the buyer gives up and CW doesn’t come through, It is their plan to replace top quality fixtures, etc. with lessor priced items. They’ve done everything possible to keep the property in tip-top condition in order to sell and have it behind them but Countrywide is making it impossible to move ahead. Any ideas?
Thanks.
on July 17th, 2008 at 7:29 am
Finally some good news….we put an offer in for a short sale house at the end of January….After putting up with Countrywide for 6 months…we finally have the official paperwork that we need to make settlement by July 30.
Back in January we were told it would take 30-45 days to make settlement. Those 30-45 days turned into 6 months. Unbelievable.
Countrywide countered out offer on the first appraisal. We went up on our offer and then they sent out another appraiser to do a comparison appraisal. So for all of you still waiting, you’ll get there, but it is going to take some time.
on July 17th, 2008 at 8:18 am
I posted about a month ago venting my frustrations with CW and I’m back to say… I have a closing scheduled for Friday 7/25. YAY! I’m just holding my breath that nothing goes wrong between now and then.
A little background to give others hope… the offer was made on Jan 23rd (while I was in the hospital having a baby); the appraisal was completed in April; and I finally got to speak to the negotiator sometime the end of June - AFTER I called a few times/day DEMANDING to speak to someone who could move things along as foreclosure was expected to occur within 1-2 weeks (foreclosure was originally scheduled for 6/25, but has been delayed twice). My realtor was also making frequent phone calls on my behalf.
CW is my 2nd mortgage holder and they are accepting $4k on a $50k interest only loan that I took out in May 2006. Thank god, that the tax rules have changed and I won’t be owing taxes on that $46k. My first mortgage (another lender) is being paid in full. At one point, CW wanted my 1st mortgage holder to take some of hit, but they refused because in all honestly, CW made a poor lending decision and the 1st should not be penalized for their bad business practices.
BTW, this is a rental property. I wanted to mention that, because I think I read somewhere that banks will not consider short sales on rentals… as far as I know, mine has been approved and things are moving forward.
I will post again when and if the closing really occurs.
on July 17th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
I have an HUD1 put in to countrywide on a short sale in phx, az today. My real estate agent has heard that countrywide has promised that starting 7/15 they will respond to all short sale offers in 15 days. I am crossing my fingers that this is true but reading this blog has made me wonder if I need to find a new property to purchase! My lease on my rental is up at the end of August and I wanted to close by 8/20.
on July 17th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Thank you to amanda and Christy for a glimmer of hope!
My offer was placed in late January, so this is looking like the light at the end of the tunnel.
To Vanessa:
I’d hope Countrywide will be focusing attention on those of us who have had offers sitting for MONTHS before attending to anything newly placed…
If I were you, and you MUST close by the end of August…I dunno, I’d look around… Just my 2 cents…
on July 17th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Amanda and Christy:
I am just wondering how much personal involvement you guys had in being on the phone with Countrywide yourselves? Amanda as a buyer, were you given authorization to talk to CW… And likewise to Christy, did you call CW yourself and/or give permission to the buyer to contact them as well? Or did you guys trust the agents to do all the talking/calling work?
Just wondering because I would really like to get involved and do some of the footwork with CW because I really, really want this house I put an offer on. I feel pretty helpless because the sellers in my case are pretty much totally unmotivated and not very involved in the process, and the listing agent wants to be the sole point of contact with CW, but she only calls once a week or so.
In any case, all of the Realtors at Trulia.com say that it is NOT normal for a buyer to get authorization to talk to the sellers lender …. I guess I am a control freak, but I am having a hard time sitting back and doing nothing hoping that the selling agent is doing it all!!!! Just wondering what you guys did.
Thanks!
Meiks
on July 17th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Hey there Meiks -
I left most of the leg work up to my realtor. I didn’t get involved until foreclosure was imminent. Once I got the foreclosure notice with a date, I was at the point where I just wanted an answer one way or another, because I wanted to do right by my tenants. So, I started called CW and I told them that I was going to call back every few hours until I could get someone that could give me an answer. Of course, with a full time job, I certainly didn’t have the time to be called as frequently as I threatened to, but I definitely called as often as I could. I finally heard from the negotiator about a week and a half later.
The buyer never got involved with the process. He’s buying the property as a rental, so he’s been very patient with the whole process.
My realtor certainly earned his commission on this property if he was calling and badgering CW as often as he said he did… assuming that we will close next Friday as expected… we shall see…
on July 21st, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Hoping for a reply from someone with recent success in closing…
About 10 posts back is my whole story. Here is the latest from our Escrow Officer:
“Fortunately, I now have direct contact with 2 supervisors and they are doing what they can to get the file pushed through, but as I understand more about the process, there numerous steps involved in getting our final approval. I just received an email from a supervisor letting me know that the file has been sent to the analysis team. According to my last conversation with the supervisor, this means that we should have an approval sometime in the last week of July, but that is not a promise.
As far as closing this escrow, the final steps involved are:
*Receive the written short sale approval from Countrywide
*Fund your loan with Countrywide
*Record the sale”
Anyone get to a stage where your file went to “the analysis team”? This is after a negotiator has been sitting on our file for 2-3 weeks. From the steps above anyone know how long from this point it took you to close?
It’s so embarrassing to have people ask why no one in our