Success Stories
Residential Law Group and Suzanne Watts and her team have successfully closed another Short Sale! Owners of a property located on 69th Ave in Peoria, had two mortgages both with HSBC Beneficial, the second mortgage being a cash-out home equity line of credit. The property was originally listed on the MLS on June 4th, 2010 at $135,000. The sellers received an offer for $125,000 on July 23rd.
Residential Law Group submitted the required documents and the executed purchase contract to Beneficial on July 27th and a BPO was immediately done on July 29th. The firm received an approval letter from Beneficial on August 9th, however, the letter only addressed the first lien. After negotiating with Beneficial, they agreed to send a revised approval letter that would allow a $1,000 payoff to the second lien. They also agreed to release the lien and not to pursue our seller’s for the deficiency or require them to contribute additional funds.
Residential Law Group was also successful in getting Beneficial to extend both approval letters by thirty days as the buyer’s lender needed ample time to process and approve their loan. The firm was able to persuade Beneficial to agree to pay $4,000 in back taxes.
By September 30th, 2010 Residential Law Group had successfully closed the Short Sale and their clients were able to avoid foreclosure without having to pay their lender additional funds and avoid a future bill from HSBC Beneficial!
Residential Law Group and Suzanne Watts and her team have successfully closed another Short Sale. An owner of a property at 78th Place had a mortgage with Citi Mortgage and the mortgage was backed by Freddie Mac. The mortgage was held by the seller but the title was held in a trust. The property was originally listed on the MLS February 2, 2010 at $90,000 and the seller immediately received a cash offer for $78,000 on February 5th. The seller agreed to the offer and signed the purchase contract.
After gathering the required documents Residential Law Group submitted the complete file including the executed purchase contract to Citi Mortgage on February 22nd. The firm continually and relentlessly contacted Citi Mortgage until they confirmed receipt of the entire file on March 8th. On March 18th Citi Mortgage ordered a BPO to assess the value of the property to determine the price it would accept on it.
On March 10th the buyers decided they were no longer interested in purchasing the property because the property was deeded to a trust. Residential Law Group immediately relisted the property on the MLS and continued the negotiations with Citi Mortgage. By April 19th the seller received and accepted a cash offer for $75,000. This offer was then submitted to Citi Mortgage for review.
On May 12th Residential Law Group successfully postponed the May 13th trustee sale until June 15th. Unfortunately, on June 9th, the second buyer had to cancel their contract due to personal reasons. Citi Mortgage informed Residential Law Group that they would not postpone the next trustee sale unless there was a current buyer or the seller qualified for the HAFA program.
The seller received an offer on June 16th for $65,000. Residential Law Group was able to successfully submit the new contract to Citi Mortgage and have the trustee sale postponed until August 2nd.
After Citi Mortgage processed and reviewed the file, they informed Residential Law Group they would need to net $68,000 on the sale of the property, which would require a purchase price of approximately $81,000. Residential Law Group sent them comparable sales showing a realistic purchase price between $65,000 and $75,000. On July 7th the firm presented the buyer with a counter offer raising the price to $75,000. The buyers countered back at a price of $70,000 and informed the firm that this would be their highest and best.
Residential Law Group then presented the $70,000 offer to Citi Mortgage, but the investor, Freddie Mac, refused to lower their final net. The following day the buyer cancelled because they could not obtain financing due to occupancy ratios and HOA litigation. The property was not eligible for VA, FHA, or conventional financing due to the amount of units that were bank and investor owned. There was also a pending lawsuit between the HOA and the builder’s insurance company which prevented a new buyer from obtaining financing.
Residential Law Group immediately put the property back on MLS and the seller received and accepted a cash offer for $75,000. Prior to sending this new offer to Citi Mortgage the firm requested a report from the title company showing all of the other units in the complex that were recently foreclosed on. With that information the firm was able to show Citi Mortgage that Freddie Mac recently foreclosed on a model matched unit and was listing the property for $65,000. Additionally, the firm informed Citi of the occupancy ratios and sent them a copy of the HOA lawsuit that would only allow for cash purchases. Citi Mortgage forwarded this information to Freddie Mac.
On August 17th Residential Law Group received an approval letter from Citi Mortgage agreeing to a $75,000 purchase price and accepting a minimum net of $62,000. They also agreed to pay $2,700 in back HOA dues that the seller was delinquent on.
To complicate matters, there was a judgment filed against the trust that held title to the property. Residential Law Group was able to successfully negotiate a partial lien release in the amount of $1,000. At that time, the firm requested Citi Mortgage decrease their net by $1,000 to cover the lien release. They agreed and the firm was able to proceed with the Short Sale process.
Residential Law Group successfully closed the Short Sale on September 14th, 2010 and their client was able to avoid foreclosure.
