Short Sale Closing Roadblocks

[Ethan Yuan]

I'm wondering if what I'm currently experience is common frustrations and what more experienced folks have done.

I'm currently trying to close on a short sale SFH home. I'm not having any issues with the sellers however all the paperwork has to go through the seller's lender for review and approval. I originally got this house under contract in mid-May with a closing on 6/19. However the rep at the seller's lender has been continuously asked for delays. We've pushed the closing multiple times to mid-July, EOM July, and now 8/21. Both the seller and I have escalated the issue with the rep's manager and they found out the rep just hasn't been doing her job. The rep hasn't even been documenting all of the files that we've sent. However the escalation can not replace her with another rep despite our repeated requests and the sellers threatening to sue the lender. The rep is also not responding to anybody and in the past 2 months only reached out the day before closing asking to extend the closing date.

Is this common with short sales and dealing with seller's lenders. Are there any recommendations on what can be done to ensure we actually close other than trying to follow up and continue to escalate or is this simply a waiting game?

Thanks.

[Jay Hinrichs]

Quote from @Andrew Postell:

@Ethan Yuan thanks for the post.  Always great to hear from a fellow Texan.

Is this common with short sales and dealing with seller's lenders.  - Yes, very.

Are there any recommendations on what can be done to ensure we actually close other than trying to follow up and continue to escalate or is this simply a waiting game? - No, well, not from the seller's side at least.  On your side, make sure that your lender is in the same position of approval with you.  Meaning, paystubs expire.  Credit reports expire.  Just make sure you have the most up to date docs available so that when the lender has approved the sale that you can move as quickly as possible.

Hope it all works out for you.

back in the GFC short sales were taking 6 months to 18 months if not longer.. I finally gave up even trying to buy them I suspect the lenders are getting caught like they did back then.. They dont have the staff .. I remember talking to a wells fargo agent that worked in the loss mit department in Oregon he said prior to 07 ish there was 8 people in the office.. fast forward to 2011 and there was over 400..