Recent Jacksonville FL Real Estate / Jacksonville Short Sale Scenario:
- Buyer fell in love with a Jacksonville short sale property he found on the internet.
- Spoke with the listing agent at length. He said a BPO had been done and he knew exactly what the bank would accept. WHICH WAS THE LIST PRICE.
- We ran comps and spoke with the buyer who was comfortable proceeding with and offer for the price the bank needed based on the recent sales in the area. The offer amount was for the list price.
- 4/22 We wrote the offer up, the buyer signed it and we sent it over.
- 4/26 we were sent the contract back signed by the seller (signature date 4/25 after the offer had expired, however the buyer was still happy to proceed). The home went under contract and was placed as contingent in the MLS system. The seller's agent stated that he was going to send in the contract to the bank that day.
- 5/6 We checked in with the seller's agent, asking if he had heard anything back yet on the short sale. The response back was that all documents were submitted including the HUD-1 and that he would update us.
- 5/9 Seller's agent sent us a message back from BOA saying that the file had been assigned to a negotiator. However, upon scrolling down and reading the whole e-mail we discovered that the short sale package wasn't even submitted to Bank of America until 5/6 the day we first inquired about the status and ten days after we were told it was being submitted. (If you are familiar with Jacksonville short sales, you know that you can't afford to "waste" any time before getting everything in because of how lengthy the process can be.)
- 5/11 Listing agent forwarded us a response from BOA. They were demanding a sales price of approximately $25,000 higher....FAR MORE than the home was worth! The listing agent asked the bank if a new appraisal could be done. He/she was told no because the appraisal didn't expire until the next month.
- Upon the demand for above-market-value on the home, the wise buyer decided to select a different home instead. But this buyer, who was sitting on a lease that was running up fast, was out a couple of weeks on a short sale that the listing agent should have either known was not going to happen, or had a game plan to try to work around the appraisal that he had to have known about.
This situation could have been much worse. We could have gone on for months in this contract without knowing that it was a "dead end" for the buyer. The worst case scenario is when a Jacksonville short sale buyer waits for month and month on end, forgoing many other opportunities, to only find out that they are not going to get that house.
We love helping sellers sell their Jacksonville homes. We don't mind taking Jacksonville short sale listings, like many agents do, because we know how to successfully close a Jacksonville short sale. We also appreciate the opportunity to help sellers sell their Jacksonville home and take a step forward to financial recovery.
Helping Jacksonville FL real estate buyers purchase short sales can be a little trickier. Not because we mind getting helping a buyer purchase from a seller in need...we love that part of it. It is very challenging on the buyer agent end of a short sale. When we have the listing, we have control, and know that the Jacksonville short sale is being worked correctly. We know how to work through "no" to get to a "yes." We know how to attack, and keep attacking the challenges that pop up when you are listing a short sale. With a buyer who wants to purchase a short sale, we don't have this power or control of the situation.
Buyer agents who have a buyer that wants to purchase a short sale have limited, to no, control of the situation. We can get an approval on almost any short sale when we are working for the Jacksonville home owner. When we are representing a buyer, it's a toss up.
It is so important to hire the right agent to represent you in the current Jacksonville FL real estate market. The current environment of the market is anything BUT business as usual.
