Great news for those in real estate investing who have been complaining about the long wait time on short sales.
Bank of America claims it is dramatically slicing down the approval time from 45 day or more (in some cases a lot more) to just 20 days.
This is great news for homeowners who are nervous wrecks and it could help investors to close more deals, now that sellers don’t have to worry about being in limbo for so long.
The new adjustments to the Equator short sale platform are supposed to streamline the process for short sale specialists and deal with valuations, underwriting and document submission. Documents which need to be submitted include the sales contract, 4606-T, HUD-1 settlement statement, 3rd party authorization form and addendums.
On the downside real estate agents will now only have 5 days to send in a new offer if buyers fall out, though this should certainly be less frequently is things speed up as expected.
However, this doesn’t mean that short sale approval times will be any shorter with any other mortgage lenders yet. Still, savvy real estate investing pros know that they lengthier closing times in the past have actually been of benefit. This has provided plenty of time for shopping the deal, completing thorough due diligence, securing financing and in some cases letting the property appreciate, while providing sellers plenty of time to arrange new housing.
Clearly, short sales haven’t disappeared yet and they may be around for quite a while, though in far fewer numbers, with less discounts but this is the perfect time to load up the pipeline. Short sales like these are certainly far more attractive than having to take over properties with previous, non-performing borrowers still residing in them. That’s no good for anyone in most areas of the country.
