Comments on: Short Sales: The New Frontier for Bank Fraud

By: How Does a Short Sale Affect My Credit Rating? — miOaklandCounty.com

How Does a Short Sale Affect My Credit Rating? — miOaklandCounty.com — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:34:28 +0000

[...] Short Sales: The New Frontier for Bank Fraud [...]

By: Short Sale Help Might Be On The Way — miOaklandCounty.com

Short Sale Help Might Be On The Way — miOaklandCounty.com — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 18:53:32 +0000

[...] Short Sales: The New Frontier for Bank Fraud [...]

By: MG

MG — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 05:42:43 +0000

Utah has been devastated by the scams you’ve referred to in the post. However, the Division seems to have put the bad guys in jail and there has been a huge weeding out of bad brokerages around here. The only ones standing are the honest ones.

By: Heather Barr

Heather Barr — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:21:35 +0000

Great point and well written post. I actually had a seller client hire on an SSE who flat-out told me that’s what he did. He was also a licensed Realtor who claimed to ‘make his profit on the spread between the sale and the resale’ and he’d ‘respect my commission’. The spread was only about $20k but still. Funny enough, when the BPO was done and the bank was near to approving the deal, all of a sudden my commission was cut from 3 to 1%, he was getting 1% and making profit on the resale. Jeesh! Luckily this story has a happy ending. The bank denied the sellers’ short sale but immediately agreed to a loan workout. Happy, happy sellers are still in their beloved home and shifty SSE was sent packing by my broker. Thanks for your post!

By: Maureen Francis

Maureen Francis — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 18:09:01 +0000

Frank,

I don’t think all short sales experts are bad, that is certain. Hope I did not paint it that way.

As far as influencing the BPO, I don’t think it is that hard, to be honest. At least not from what I have seen. The listing agent should be present when the BPO agent shows up. Hand them a set of comps and explain the differences. I think that is a first step in getting a deal done.

I just completed a short sale where 2 BPO’s were about 50k apart on a $300k property. Quite the spread, if you ask me. The higher bank was persuaded (by me) to accept the lower bank’s BPO and the deal went through.

There are agents, like yourself, who have more experience in working with banks. For a seller facing foreclosure or requiring a short sale, this experience is essential. I get asked all kinds of questions from agents who have not been down the bank path before, and it concerns me to think that their clients are not getting sound advice.

Thanks for stopping by.

By: Frank Wible

Frank Wible — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:16:09 +0000

The one big problem is getting the $125K approved. Being an “SSE” and a foreclosure Realtor I would NEVER let this get past me. The truth is; it’s very hard to influence the BPO that much. As much as this could happen, it’s really hard to get it done. However, great article, because people should always watch out for these scams! Even if they hide $1000 from the lender, it’s a scam!