Short sale has lots of uncertainties involved. One of the big headache is it takes very long time to get lender approval. Bank Of America’s short sale especially so. Many buyers who are in short sale transactions ended up giving up and move to a different house. When a new buyer comes, the whole approval process has to started all over again. This long process consumes lots of energy and emotion of people who involve in it.
A good piece of news to share with people who are in short sale or look to buy or sell a short sale. Bank of America says it will now be able to provide a decision on a short sale offer in 20 days.
Bank of America is making changes to its short sale procedures and introducing an improved task flow within the short sale technology module from Equator, BofA’s short sale management platform of choice. The goal: to reduce the timeframe for a short sale decision to less than three weeks, according to an artile published by DSnews.com today.
Starting Saturday, April 14, real estate professionals working with BofA will be required to submit five documents for short sales initiated with an offer:
- Purchase Contract including Buyer’s Acknowledgment and Disclosure
- HUD-1
- IRS Form 4506-T
- Bank of America Short Sale Addendum, which includes the Agent Certification form
- Bank of America Third-Party Authorization Form
The acknowledgement and disclosure form, short sale addendum, and the form for third-party authorization are available through the company’s online Agent Resource Center.
The third-party authorization form is a new standardized document developed specifically for BofA. Previously, the lender accepted third-party authorization forms in differing formats and from a variety of sources when transacting a short sale.
Bank of America says it recognized a need for greater compliance and consistency with this important document and has now created its own form to standardize the third-party authorization process. The two-page document requires signed acknowledgments from all borrowers and designated representatives in a short sale. Beginning April 14, BofA will accept only the official Bank of America Third-Party Authorization Form for short sales.
The bank’s new short sale process will enable real estate agents, brokers, attorneys, and other short sale specialists involved in pre-foreclosure transactions to complete tasks such as document collection, valuations, and underwriting simultaneously.
With these steps running concurrently, the timeline from initiation to closing is reduced. In fact, Bank of America says it will now be able to provide a decision on a short sale offer in 20 days. Typically, BofA’s short sale process has taken anywhere from 45 days upwards.
In continuing to streamline the decision process, should the buyer walk away from the sale, Bank of America is giving agents five days to submit a backup offer. Previously, the backup offer window was 14 days. Interested buyers are limited to two counteroffers and will receive a response from the lender within three days.
