Part 2 – Equator Tips for Success

If you want to be successful in short sales that require Equator make sure to employ these Tips and Traps. Part 1 can be read here

The following Equator tips and traps come from Dan Welch.  Dan Welch is the lead short sale negotiator for Home Solution Counselors and a bring ‘em on and “your next” closer.

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Dan saw the light and fled from the darkside (he used to work inside the bank – working against homeowners).   He now spends the better part of 40 hours a week with a wireless headset, three phone lines and a Batphone Hotline into The Gore Law Firm as he routinely hammers banks into accepting and approving short sales.

We asked Dan to provide us with a game plan for success with Equator.  Most agents know that Bank of America‘s short sale tool can cause a real estate agent to lose control of the short sale process.

1. Know your time frames:  The servicer and the agent both have time frames on ALL tasks assigned in Equator. Call every week, ask the servicer what the next task due for the negotiator is and ask when that task expires. If it’s beyond that deadline, bust some balls.  Don’t let up.  They promised they would meet a deadline!
2. Read the manual: When you initiate a short sale with BAC, they send you a user’s manual for Equator. Read it! Knowledge is power and power is good.
3. Stay on top of your tasks: When a task is due on 11/14, you better make sure to add a note to your calendar. When that task dies, so does your deal.  How long have you been working on this file? 6 weeks, 3 months, a year? And it was declined and closed by those haters at the bank and now you have to start over!!?? YOU (agents, or 3rd party negotiators) are responsible for completing the assigned tasks by their deadline. Helpful hint: Get your borrower’s paperwork and required docs together BEFORE they’re requested and keep updated bank statements and paystubs. Being prepared; I know it’s a novel concept.
4. It ain’t over till it’s funded! : Just because you get a counter acceptance, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting it approved.  Did you forget about mortgage insurance?  Don’t understand how MI works.  Read this article HERE.   This stuff can cause an extra delay of 2 weeks or MORE – after the initial SP acceptance.  So, wait to tell your seller that the deal will work until AFTER you find out what the MI company wants.  To be safe, wait until you have a demand payoff letter, in hand, from the servicer – and the numbers actually work.
   
5. Keep impeccable notes, take screenshots & record ALL calls: When your negotiator who’s working too many files drops the ball on yours; you need proof and evidence to show their supervisor or one of the upstanding gents at “TGLF”.   Nothing better than replaying their own words from a recorded call or displaying a screenshot.  If necessary bring a lawsuit with this evidence.  They’ll turn tail and run and you’ll get what you want.

Final thought: Equator and the industry in general are changing at a break-neck pace. These tips may be pertinent today and mean little tomorrow. It’s an ever-evolving business and it’s important to stay on top of the facts and evolve with the industry.  Most of us, who are still in this crazy industry and plan on eating tonight, have had to adapt greatly over the past several years.  Equator is new, but it’s not scary – just frustrating.  Good luck and try to keep a cool head.

Part 1 – Equator Traps to Avoid.

If you want to be successful in short sales that require Equator make sure to employ these Tips and Traps.

The following Equator tips and traps come from Dan Welch.  Dan Welch is the lead short sale negotiator for Home Solution Counselors.  Dan saw the light and fled from the darkside (he used to work inside the bank – working against homeowners).   He now spends the better part of 40 hours a week with a wireless headset, three phone lines and a Batphone Hotline into The Gore Law Firm as he routinely hammers banks into accepting and approving short sales.

Since the Houston area’s Houston Association of Realtors’ MLS reports that over 73% of all listed short sales never close, with most being lost to Texas’s rapid foreclosure process, we wanted to know why Dan is getting 93% of all short sales approved and closed.

We asked Dan to provide us with a game plan for success with Equator.  Most agents know that Bank of America‘s short sale tool can cause a real estate agent to lose control of the short sale process.

Here are Dan’s Traps to Avoid.  Monday I’ll post Dan’s Tips.

1. NEVER trust their counter(s): If you receive a counter in Equator, take a screenshot before you do anything else. When you accept or counter back the “counter worksheet” usually disappears for good.   BAC is known for countering the offer with “A” and then reneging on it and countering again with “B”.    SECRET TIP : A = typically a value close to the current offer which represents ACTUAL property value.    B = the price your buyer won’t pay, even in a good economy.    My view is if they don’t honor counter “A”, even if they knock a couple grand off their minimum net to make good on it, you’re closer to getting them what they need to get the deal approved by management or investor.
2. NEVER agree to a prom note or cash contribution: I stopped agreeing to prom notes and cash contributions when I was asked by BAC to “please have your seller sign a promissory note to cover some of (GENERIC INVESTOR)’s losses.” – NO!     The borrower isn’t responsible for an investor’s risky investment decision gone sour. They can either agree to a short sale or lose money on the deal in foreclosure.   This should be your attitude.
   
3. Email everything through Equator: You’ll almost NEVER get a call from the servicer after making a request through Equator. Most of these agents are overworked. Sometimes carrying a workload of up to 375 files. It’s all they can do to keep up.  Equator’s email messaging system is great for tracking a deal and the conversation.  Also, no more hearing “I never got the message”, because you, your client, the bank’s negotiator and their supervisor can see the proof in black and white in the Equator message archive.
4. Dispute their value: The bank won’t disclose this…. but, sometimes they skew the BPO or appraisal results to meet their own needs!!   So, call them out on it. If you’re a competent agent, you should have completed a CMA or at least run comps to make a good assumption as to property value. If the bank gives you a ridiculous number, tell them how ridiculous it is and submit comps, CMA, repair estimate or WHATEVER you have to devalue the property. I think since so much of the new process differs from the traditional short sale process, that agents or negotiators tend to forget they have the right to dispute the bank’s alleged property value. It doesn’t always work, but it’s better than rolling over and taking it! Remember, if enough of you “roll over and take it”, the bank and their investors make new policies or guidelines to make it harder for you and the rest of us to stand up and fight. So, for the sake of us all, FIGHT!
5. Don’t give in.  Sue them if needed:  Many times the negotiator on the other side is powerless or plain incompetent.  If things go south or your file is facing foreclosure you CANNOT trust that simply because the file is in review in Equator or you have accepted an offer in Equator that they won’t foreclose. Get an attorney that you can trust.  Get an attorney that has successfully filed lawsuits and WON against Bank of America.  You can look this up yourself in the Federal or District Court level in your area.  See if they have open AND closed lawsuits against Bank of America or whatever bank you are fighting.   Lawsuits will allow you to remove Equator’s power and will cause the bank to assign special staff to handle the lawsuit. If necessary get a TRO or restraining order against the bank for negligence. (This is where that screenshot you took might come in handy).

So-called “retro appraisals” are the latest tool at the disposal of lawyers looking to fight off foreclosure and obtain a favorable loan modification or a short sale for their clients.

“The theory is that the financing was based upon a questionable appraisal which the lender approved without proper oversight,” a RetroAppraisals.com release said.  “Mortgage brokers, real estate agents, and lenders had close contact with appraisers and most appraisal order forms had a line item that asked for the borrower or their agent to write down the value that was needed from the appraiser.”

When Lender’s counsel moves for Summary Judgment, introduction of a Historical Revised Real Estate Appraisal could cause Judges to take a hard look at any Holder in Due Course protection sought by the lender. An obvious reason is a higher court review of the irrefutable factual information contained in the appraisal, could cause such an opinion to be overturned.

Such Historical Review might be able to be used to allege collusion, collaboration, civil theft, and fraud in the inducement and common law fraud. The aforementioned can be a springboard for an attorney’s affirmative defenses and counterclaim for damages – depending upon the state’s rules of civil procedure and the attorney’s experience and creativity.

Steven Greene, co-founder of Retro Appraisals LLC, said in most cases, a look back at the facts using a retro appraisal puts just enough pressure on the bank or lender and their representatives to find solutions rather than face the consequences of their previous actions.

At Home Solution Counselors we completely agree.  In fact, we build a historical view of the value for every case where the Audit shows fishy values.    Bottom line is that a solid audit is critical to success in building a winning cases.

- The Bank Slayer