It is very important that the principals in the transaction respect your ability and professionalism. You do not want to convey a sense of insecurity or loss of control to them. They need to rely on you because you might be the only sane person in this transaction. So, don't let your frustrations show. Be that rock for your seller.
Before Escalating a Short Sale
You need to change the tone of your voice. People like to deal with easy-going, polite individuals. You don't want a trace of irritation to sneak into your voice. Here are 5 tricks that I use:
- Think of a funny incident that made you laugh. Relive that experience.
- Go out in the yard and scream until your throat hurts. Then pull a few weeds.
- Call an amusing person, somebody who makes you laugh. Crack a few jokes.
- Go to icanhascheeseburger and watch cat videos until you laugh out loud.
- My personal favorite, watch Celebrity Jeopardy from Saturday Night Live. But it might make you get all riled up again because Celebrity Jeopardy could remind of your short sale, so it's kind of a trade off.
Steps to Escalate the Short Sale
Choose a good time to call the short sale negotiator. Often that means calling first thing in the morning. If the negotiator is in New York and you live in California, this will mean you have to get out of bed at 4:30 AM. You will probably need 30 minutes to wake up, drink coffee with that shot of tequila and work yourself up into your chipper self by 5:00 AM.
- Set your phone to auto redial.
- Dial the number over and over until you get a live person to answer.
- Make sure you have the loan number in front of you.
- Be prepared to recite the client's name, property address in full.
- Listen to them tell you how this call may be recorded for quality assurance and realize it is not. If they could afford to record a phone call, they wouldn't make 4 negotiators share the same telephone number.
At this point, the negotiator will ask you what you need. You might be tempted to say you would like to poke out their eyes with a hot poker, but that be unprofessional, and they would not understand what you are talking about anyway.
Instead, tell them you need to speak with a supervisor, and ask how this can be arranged. Explain that you prefer to speak directly to a supervisor. You do not want a supervisor to call you back; you do not want an email message passed along to a supervisor. You want the supervisor's name and phone number, now, please.
This is the part where you might be accidentally disconnected. Suddenly, you may find yourself holding the phone and listening to a dial tone. Or, you may have been given the supervisor's name and telephone number. Luck of the draw.
Bank Policies for Short Sale Escalation
Every bank has a different policy for escalation of short sales. Some banks would like the agent to try to work out the problem with the existing negotiator first. This is why you need to document your file with the date and time that you contacted the negotiator. Most banks will give a negotiator 2 to 3 days to respond before they will allow an escalation.
If you are working on a Bank of America HAFA short sale, some of the bank's third party negotiators such as AMS maintain their own HAFA escalation team. You need to find out how to get through to the escalation team. One way is to send a Tweet to @BofA_Help. Do not reference the loan number or property address because a Tweet is public information. Tweet your name, phone number, best time to call and say you need short sale help.
At the time of writing, Elizabeth Weintraub, DRE # 00697006, is a Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate in Sacramento, California.
