I am hoping it is possible to get Countrywide Mortgae to just accept priciple payoff. In my case approx. 855,000 I am behind 9 payments of 6800.00 about 61000. I have a buyer who can give me principle pay off. Do you think my request would be facilitated faster than someone trying to get the bank to accept less than their principle payoff? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

It is a short sale and if you are dealing with a negotiator there it can be fairly quick or slow, depending on a lot of factors.

warmly

–Richard

Good luck with that Tom. I have been trying to do a short sale with Countrywide for over 4 months. It is a nightmare of epic proportions and rarely sucessful.If you try it anyway be prepared to deal with the most inept department on the face of the earth.

Has anyone successfully closed a short sale with Countrywide this year?

Good luck. We have bid for a short sale home 5 months ago. We are over the loan value. We are 95% of market. We are the only ones remaining (others have dropped out). Still no answer. Broker tells me they are the absolute worst.

Yes, I have closed one. It was in the works since November 07 and just approved shortly after receiving approval in early June. It truly was an experience that was filled with frustration beyond comprehension. I literally broke two desk phones. I am a mild-mannered person, but it drove me to the edge of insanity. I have 7 other Countrywide short sales. Why, you ask, because of ordinary people who are frustrated and devastated. At least we talk the talk and in most cases the reps at Countrywide can't get to us and make us feel powerless as they can to their customers. In most cases. The most frustrating part of dealing with CW is that you cannot get through to the negotiators directly. You have to field through the reps and their supervisors just to get an (unanswered) email to the negotiators and their supervisors. Their system is broken and they are overwhelmed. What worked for me on this last offer was a serious of repeated, I repeat, repeated emails with hi-priority to the negotiators, supervisors, next supervisor, a VP and your CW mortgage broker if you still have one. string is firstname_lastname@countrywide.com. I sent 30 emails within 5 minutes. What I got was a phone call from the negotiator to tell me to stop. But, nevertheless, it was a conversation that pushed the offer into approval status within 2 days.

We have had an offer 5 months already and Countrywide still has not done a thing…first they 'lost' our paper work..then they 'found' it after we had to give submit all paper again. We are so behind and will never be able to pay back this house. We can't afford it. I hear that they don't like to foreclose but here is an offer and they haven't even bothered looking at our paper work. Its just a nightmare.

Do you have a good contact person that i can talk with in countrywide, so my process can be more effective.
Please let me know

We have put a few bids on a short sale house, which was unprocessed because of a change in negotiators. This change cause the paperwork to start all over again…needless to say the paperwork was not sifted through in time, before the foreclosure. There was another bid on the house for 3 months that was not answered either. sigh.

Good luck to everyone!. We had a previous modification, which resulted in an even higher payment and higher interest rate. It took them 7 months, then they added 15,000 to the principle balance, as interest. It was not our fault it took them 7 months to do this modification. We could not afford the payment so got a short sale offer, then we find out we MAY be eligible for the Homeowner Retention Program, that was last August 2008. Most of the people that answer the phone you can either not understand them or get through to them. They keep requesting payments and say, now you are another month behind. Of course I know that, then they ask for a payment. I keep telling them we cannot afford the payments, and where is the short sale offer? They don't seem to be able to find it, and they said yesterday, if we are not approved for the homeowner retention program, we have to submit a new offer. I can certainly understand how so many people are losing their homes, even if they can show they can pay a reduced payment. Our modification *first one* was 64percent of our income!!! Go figure….don't know if we will have a home or not in the coming months. Like I said, good luck to everyone in the same situation.

We have a bid in on a short sale…It's been 8 weeks. There has been a foreclosure date set on Feb 3rd. My hopes are that they will not foreclose before our bid can be excepted. Does anyone know if they will foreclose anyway instead of going through with the short sale? And yes, it's with CountryWide.

Have you spoken to the negotiator at Countrywide? You should be on the phone with them almost every day at this point. If your offer is fair, then it is to their advantage to accept the offer. Pushing and nagging really help!

Good luck

warmly

–Richard

The house was just reassigned to another negotiator which of course slows things down but as a buyer do I have the ability to nag them or does my realtor have to do that??? He says it does no good to be pushing but I am willing at this point to do whatever it takes to get this house……Thanks for your input..
Shelly

Oh, I have been dealing with COURTYWIDE since March of 2008!!! They really have NO-One with a Good Idea of where the market was going. I think they are just doddling around to make more work for themselves, or they just do NOT know their work at ALL~ COUNRTYWIDE could have this property closed and off their books - The home is just setting there wearthering, lawn, trees, plants died building collasped, county fines. They are worthless!!! Call your local Newspaper, Media, tell them what a BIG PAIN they ARE!!!!

My husband and I are trying to purchase a home through a short sale. The complete package from the sellers was sent in on September 24th '08 I believe. We still have not heard anything back! The latest they told our realtor is that they are going to schedule a house appraisal BUT that could take up to 12 weeks! WHAT>!?!?!?!

I have to say, I have been fortunate because my short sale just got approved. I put my condo on the market april 2008. CW was not willing to help because my husband lost his job. I finally stopped making payments! After 3 months, cw decided to offer me a reduction on my loan. I refused to pick up the certified package and refused to negotiate. I then told them that I wanted to do a died in lieu. What I find is that once your house is behind and you want them to stop nagging you about payments, you have to always be in a process of working on something. Finally, I got an offer in October for a short sale. I then told cw that I want to switch my DIL to a short sale. They asked me for everything .. so I sent it to them. Every time I faxed them something, I called right then to double check to make sure they received it. After that, I have my Realtor call to double check as well. It does take a long time, but if you keep following up with them, they will get things done for you. I find that the key to getting a short sale is not an experienced Realtor, but to have a thorough Realtor. My realtor had no experienced in short sale, but we managed to get it done. We are signing tomorrow. The only down fall is that I don't know if I have to pay back. I don't have to bring anything to signing or have to sign a promisary letter either. Worst comes the worst, I will hire an attorney to fight that down the road. Here are some pointers.. and this was what I did. 1. Get an agent that is thorough, and know how to follow up 2. Get an offer 3. Follow their instructions (I fax my agent everything and she took care of the faxing to cw) (you must be comfortable with him/her knowing your income) 4. Call your agent everyday for status 5. Call cw to check on your status. Make sure you asked to be transfer to the short sale dep. every time you call. don't waste time talking to another rep. they don't know! 6. Threaten them. Tell them that if they don't approve it, the buyer will walk away and they will have to clean up the mess. Do it everytime you talk to them. 7. Once you get an approval, you are set. Listen to your escrow and follow direction. 8. DON'T FORGET.. .YOU MIGHT HAVE ANOTHER LENDER AS WELL. country wide might not be it.. in my case.. Fannie Mae… so find out ASAP. 9. MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL.. DON'T BACK OFF. TALK PROFESSIONALLY AND STRAIGHT TO THE POINT. TO YOUR AGENT, YOUR ESCROW AND YOUR BANK… that is the key.. I would love to answer any questions for anyone that need the help. I am not an expert, but I can tell you, been there, done that.. and my short sale is closed tomorrow. Took me 2 months!!! My email address is Pheonah16@yahoo.com If you need any help or questions that I can help answer, please feel free to email me.. I will do my best to help you …

I'm so glad you could get this done. Congratulations and THANK YOU so much for your kindness in helping other folks in the same boat.

warmly

–Richard

I am considering listing my house for short sale, but my current mortgage is through Countrywide. I realize the difficulties involved, but my question is specifically about HELOC's. Not only do we have our mortgage through CW, but we also have a HELOC through them as well. Anyone have any experience with that? Thanks!

Lots of experience with Countrywide. It is a bit easier getting a short sale with two loans when both are serviced by the same lender. I think you'll do okay.

warmly

–Richard

We signed a contract on a house which is a short sale on 2/3. CW has sent an appraiser out a few days later. Haven't heard anything back yet. We put a 30-day clause on the contract because we have a lease to renew or not. Can CW (with all the nightmares you hear about them) get this done before our closind date in late March? Kathi

Yes they can. Have you done your own BPO, Broker's Price Opinion? You can fax it to CW and work with their negotiator and pre-handle the valuation issue. Good luck!

warmly

–Richard

Hi Richard - Got this from my realtor. The appraisal is back, Countrywide will not disclose the amount.  They have ordered 2 BPO's to be done this week in order to come to a definite price.  I'm hoping that we'll here by the end of the week or at least the beginning of next week where they are at with price.  Karla (the listing agent) did a BPO when she got the listing and sent it to Countrywide.  But they have ordered 2 additional Broker Price Opinion reports because they want 3 different opinions on price. Hope that helps, feel free to contact me with any questions.  Why do you think Countrywide is looking for two more BPO's?

Valuation is almost always the sticking point in a short sale. Countrywide is in a situation where their noteholder perhaps wants to be sure of the valuation fairness. That can be very questionable where not much has sold, and it is tough to come to a valuation decision due to the wide variance in selling prices.

warmly

–Richard

How long do BPO's generally take. We are almost at our 30-day clause.

They don't take long but the lenders have to call the brokers and perhaps they haven't done so yet, in your case. A lender can do a BPO in a matter of days. Most often they are done in 2 weeks or so.

warmly

–Richard

i put an offer on a Shortsale in December 2008, 2 weeks ago my realtor told me that the bank did an appraisal on the house and that it is under review. i called the listing agent today and he told me that it is trough Country Wide, and that it is under review any idea how to get a hold of someone in country wide or how much longer it might be before they give me an answer? the listing agent seems to think the bank is waiting to see what the governmet is going to do. i appreciate your help. you may contact me at [deleted by moderator]

A lot of lenders are in a holding pattern. Deals seem to have gotten slower recently.

warmly

–Richard

My house was refinanced in 2005 through Homebridge (now defunct, I believe) Mortgage Bankers. It was through CW. who sent me the paid morgage cert. However, Countrywide started collecting payments again in late 2005. The interest rose every 6 months until it got to 12 percent. I could not afford these payments. So, I got a notice of Lis Pendens filed Aug 1. To make a long story short, CW did offer to "restructure" my loan with a temporary interest rate of 7% for 5 years, and by doing so, they tacked on $25,000 in fees, etc to the back of my loan. Now my loan grew to $175,000 (my same house is now selling for around $100,000). After some searching, I find that Bank of New York (agent for Homebridge Mortgage) did not file a reassignment of the mortgage to CW until Aug 5 (four days AFTER the Lis Pendens). Is this legal?????

I don't know if it's legal or not. I don't think it is all that irregular. I don't think a judge would throw out the foreclosure. I would consider a different loan mod or a short sale. Always best to visit with a competent lawyer of course.

warmly

–Richard

I dn't know where to start!! I have a buyer who offered $414 k on a CW short sale where the VA appriasal came in at $435K. That was in Nov of 08. We have yet to hear from CW. We (both listing agent, buyer agent and seller) call CW everyday and only get voicemail. Never a person, never a call back. Not a clue what they want to proceed.

It's like talking to a brick wall.

Does ANYONE have any good contacts I can try?

It is almost 45 days for our CW home. The shortfall on the house is 60,000. Last week the file was escalated. The person my agent spoke to said that our offer was at the appraisal price and that the negotiator should have called us already. Our closing date was set for 3/20. I'm thinking that CW really meant 2010 for a closing date. They really need to get their act together.

Does anyone know of a contact department to check the status of an offer made on a short sale CW owned home?

Thanks

Countrywide is the worst company to work with. I am a realtor and I have lost sales that have gone into 4 months and buyers are tired of waiting. Not only does this effect the sellers, the buyers, the realtors, the title office etc. This is an absolute joke. We now have 5 contracts in there, yet no answer. You talk to a different person every time and each one has a different answer. I will never refer anyone to countrywide for a loan. I hope you all saw on Dateline a couple of weeks ago about the fraudulent lenders, Countrywide was the worst. Now we all no why their system sucks. I am so furious with all that they have done to all of us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am very disappointed in CountryWide, I have a bid on a short sale for 3 months now and still have not heard anything, I am a disabled veteran currently living in an apartment that hampers my health. So does anyone know how to get countrywide moving. Should I contact the main branch of Bank of America (who they have merged with) or maybe the Federal Housing Agency. What should I do to get an answer? I am tired of waiting and wonder if I should drop my bid.

Heidi,

I am a veteran as well. I hear your pain. I started a short sale in Oct 08. The first buyer backed out. I have another buyer. It looks like it has to go through 3 negotiators again. I am soon going to hire an attorney.

I made an offer on a short sale property through Countrywide in November 2008, and am still waiting to hear back. The listing agent told us that our offer had finally reached a negotiator in early February. By mid March it was already being reviewed by the 3rd negotiator. The lender has already ordered 2 BOP's on the property…………the first one was about 8% higher than my offer, and most recent one was actually 3% lower than my offer. I'm not exactly sure what the big delay is at this point! The current owners haven't made a payment in over 7 months, and it doesn't seem like the lender is in any hurry to go through with the short sale or even file for foreclosure. Something has got to give at some point!

Why do they call it a "Short Sale" - seems of lately it should be termed a "Long Sale"

We submitted an offer on a Countrywide Short Sale in November. We got a verbal approval on February 18th and have been waiting for a written ever since… we were told by the negotiator that it would be signed by 4/20… again nothing… the seller's realtor just keeps telling us that they have not heard anything!!! This is so FUSTRATING… did anyone find out a number you can call to find out a satus on your own? I don't want to move on but this has gone on long enough. I just want to buy the house and go into Escrow… don't they want to SELL the house and MAKE some MONEY??

You should be calling the negotiator every few days. You can't let the ball drop on this thing, Ashlee.

Sadly, it is this persistence that is STILL required to get a short sale through. Don't let the momentum get lost.

warmly

–Richard

We put a contract on a short sale home on 2/2. Yesterday, 92 days later, Countrywide finally agreed to the sale.

Beware all investors, Countrywide has placed a 30 day clause in their short sale agreements( 10# to be exact) that you must hold this property 30 days before you are allowed to sell this property to another party. You see its all right to loan money to someone that should have never been in that home to begin with and to get tax payers money to bail them out of this mess. Short sale files are deep as you can stand at good ole Countrywide and with this 30 day clause in affect those files are going to double. Some Pinhead in Countrywide wants to bite the hand that is trying to save these messes from hapening. Its all right for an attorney to make money from all of this mess and a appraiser to make money but not an investor. The investor is the one taking the risk here not an attorney or an appraiser and many other hands that are in the pie when a home goes into foreclosure. Avoid this stupid company when it comes to short sales and save yourself a great big headache.

I have an 80/20 with Countrywide being the 80 for 200k and Sun Trust the 20 at 50k. Houses in my area are now selling for 40 to 60k. Countrywide has been unwilling to negoiate with me on a modification since BEFORE I stopped paying them 6 months ago. I just got served with foreclosure papers. What are the chances of getting a short sale approved before a foreclosure? Would they even consider it for 1/4 the amount owed? What about the 2nd mortgage? Any advice?

Sure they would. Countrywide has become very hard to deal with these days but they are doing these types of deals all the time. What matters is that you sell the house at something that is close to the current market price. Regardless of how low that price is compared to the loan. The second mortgage will get very little but they are wiped out anyway so anything they get is gravy at this point.

warmly

–Richard

I have an offer in on a home that has a first with EMC and a second with Countrywide. EMC has approved the short sale, and my lender has approved my financing. We've done an appraisal and the home's FMV = our offer price. EMC's lien is for about 140k in excess of current value, so Countrwide will be wiped out regardless of changes to the appraisal. My realtor is in the process of calling Countrywide everyday. The BPO was done on Saturday and delivered today. Is there anything I can do to expedite the process, since my approval with EMC expires at the end of June? Can I also call Countrywide? Is it of any help, or should I leave it to my realtor? The waiting is the most frustrating part, especially with the foreclosure coming up at the end of June (EMC has made it clear it will not extend). Is there anything I can do? I have the name of my assigned negotiator but nothing else. Thanks!

Yes, call Countrywide. Day and night. Don't just wait around. Call their corporate headquarters. The squeaky wheel gets the attention.

warmly

–Richard

So, how long did you wait for your EMC approval? Have you heard from CountryWide yet? I am going through the samething now. EMC is 1st and CountryWide is 2nd.

EMC was actually quite quick. 2 weeks. We've been waiting on countrwide for about 3 weeks now? Phase I was a week. Phase II has been a week now.

We have an offer/bid on a Short Sale home, that we loved so much!! The agent ended up taking our offer to the short sale bank (CW) at almost what the seller owed on the house. Well, that was amost 2 months ago, and all of the stories I have read on your blog have validated the experiences we've had so far. Based on the current feedback from CW it would be at least another 1-2 months before they would release the house. The listing agent has gotten a different story every time they've spoken to someone at CW, and any sense of urgency asked by the agent has gotten no response. CW could care less!. We are on a timeline to get moved (moving across the country, …plans need to be in place for a lot of different factors), and have made the decision to retract our offer on this short sale home this week and move on to an offer on another home. And one of the things that validated that decision were the stories that I read here so, Thank You!! Seeing the track record of CW both in our experience and on this blog made us realize it was not a risk we could take. CW should totally be exposed for this behavior. it is irresponsible in this challenging economic market to prevent qualified BUYERS from purchasing a home and preventing yet another forclosure. Someone in your blog mentioned CW being exposed on Datelne NBC for fraudelent loans, but we should get them back on the air to let the public know that the entity that was responsible for a great deal of these bad loans in the first place is the very organization that is preventing buyers to buy these properties and prevent more foreclosures! Thank you again everyone for your stories and experiences. Good luck to all of you!!

We placed an offer on a short sale offer on a property in Phoneix Arizona on 4/12/2009. We were initally in the back up position. After approximately 30 days, Countrywide agreed to the short sale submited by the primary buyer. They never materialized (who knows how long they had waited) and we were placed into first position. I am told our offer is a better and higher offer than the original. Of course for what ever reason the same negotiator could not be used and the process started back at ground zero. We were told that we would have a decision by 6/18/2009 after many weeks of contstant follow up by the realtors. That day has come and gone and we were told we were advised in error and now the file has been given to a supervisor. We have waited 80 plus days and we are worried that they will never finish this. I have been told that they have ordered a 3rd appraisal and they called the sellers last week to ask some contract questions which is supposed to be a good sign. We went ahead and sent them a 5 day demand letter, but I don't think this will motivate Countrywide to make a decision.

It's the end of July…has Countrywide approved your short sale yet?

i want to be a squeaky wheel!!! we put a offer on a short sale July 27th, we were told it could take 4-7 months to hear anything! I want to call/e-mail them daily… we LOVE this house and would do anything to get it! Does anyone please have any good contact information for countrywide? and can i contact them or does it need to be realitor? thanks for your help.

Us too! We placed a fair market value offer on 01-01- 2009. The offer was finally accepted on 06-01-09 and we THOUGHT the nightmare was over. That was not the case.The required V.A. appraisal came in at 20K less and required a price change addendum which was returned to them 06-10. STILL NOTHING! School is starting again and now we will have to switch our kids mid stream. Will contacting someone at Bank of America (who bought CW and their problems) help? Is the listing agent the only one who can communicate with them? What info do I need? PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN! Names, email, phone numbers anything you have would be greatly appreciated!

Kris, any update?

I don’t want to give you bad news, but they don’t like to review cases twice. Probably you would not hear from them ever again. I made an offer August last year, I got the answer in October but the listing agent decided to send some paperwork back to the bank because the “shortsale” agent fee was not included the first time. I decided to move on to another house, made an offer in January 09…bad luck is with cw too and I am till waiting.