Jonathan and I had been working two short sale listings that were under contract. On one, we had lender approval from the two lenders who were on the loan. We had been working on this listing since December 2013. We only needed Freddie Mac approval. (Freddie Mac is the Public-Government run GSA which attempts to keep mortgage money flowing to lenders. It is government regulated)
After months and months of difficult and frustrating work on this Short Sale, Freddie Mac said “No, we’re not doing the deal. Your client (our seller) does not qualify as he doesn’t have a sufficient hardship to qualify!”
We asked the Servicer of the first loan if there was anyway we can make this deal work? No way! Once Freddie Mac says “no” it’s “no!”
So now, we need to let everyone know, including the buyer (buyer’s agent) that we’ve got no deal. Bummer!!! The buyer was not happy, though they were well aware that this deal was a crapshoot to begin with. Still, they had big plans for the home, like even getting married there.
Several weeks go by and the buyer calls me directly – not his agent. He pleads, “Is there not anything we can do to buy this house!?” No, we reply, it’s dead. Then he adds, “I’ll pay more $. “No, we reply, they closed the file and besides, the money was not the issue, but that the seller was not qualified – made too much money.”
At this point, to show him that we’re trying everything we know to make this work, I said, “Okay, I know a guy in our company who does more Short Sales than anyone in town. I’ll call him to see if he’s got a connection at Freddie Mac. I’ll let you know.”
I e-mail my cohort at HomeSmart and cry on his virtual shoulder. He replied, “Mike, Freddie Mac is absolutely the worst, but I’ve got the President’s #. You’re probably out of luck. I called the number once and it went to voice mail and this guy leaves three names and #’s of people to contact if he’s not answering. Here are the three names and #’s.”
I looked at the names and picked the first one thinking, ‘this is a waste of time.’ The phone rang and a live person answered the phone — without going to voice mail! I was so stunned I forgot why I’d called. “Is this Samantha?” I asked?” Yes, how can I help you?” I explained the situation to her while profusely worshipping her for being a live sympathetic ear. She said she would look at the file and call me right back. Oh, I’ve heard that before, I thought. But she did. I was flabbergasted.
Long story short, Samantha checked the file, put a manager on it, and said if we can add $3000 to this deal, we can make it go. The buyer agreed in a heartbeat.
We’re several weeks down the road since then but believe it or not, we’re putting this deal together. I wish I could say it was my knowledge, my persistence and my wherewithal to do all this, but it wasn’t. It was a persistent buyer, a helpful fellow HomeSmart Agent, and a genuine caring lady at Freddie Mac who did the impossible for us. Truly, this was short sale miracle.
