Most residential deals are fairly predictable. Buyer sees home. Buyer falls in love with home. Buyer gets approved for a conventional loan, inspection results are negotiated successfully, buyer gets formal loan approval, and we go to closing. That’s the norm. The typical.
Sometimes, however, we complete a deal that when we ponder each step that got us to the close, we end up in a delighted state of wonderment. This has just occurred. We now call this recent closing, which was two months following our most recent story where we thought we were closing, the Vistancia Miracle!
The miracle that some of you may recall, was that this short sale in the upscale Vistancia community in North Phoenix, was never supposed to happen. It took an “I won’t take no for an answer buyer” and the grace of God to put together a wild and I might add, exhilarating finish which did indeed close this last week.
The short story recap is that after many months of time, energy, and money expended by all involved, Freddie Mac (Freddie) turned the short sale deal down stating that the seller made too much money. This was true. Once Freddie turned down the deal, it’s as good as dead. They are the ranking authority for this short sale.
The buyer however did not throw in the towel so easily. Immediately following the Freddie rejection, he called me – mind you I’m not his agent, but he called me direct nonetheless. I explained the sad story which he had already heard. “But I’ll pay more than our ‘negotiated’ price of $273,000. I’d pay over $300,000!” Can’t we do something?” To pacify him, I told him I’d make some calls.
I did, to a fellow HomeSmart professional who gave me the direct line to Freddie’s CEO and the numbers of three underlings who report to him. He said, “Call Samantha first.” I called the number. She personally answered. After explaining to her my sad story she said she’d check it out and get back to me. She did.
Simone put me in touch with a Freddie Manager and within days, Freddie was reconsidering the loan. For no other reason, that attitude of Freddie was a miracle in itself.
To further condense this down, Freddie did approve it. Once this occurred, the buyer’s lender sent out their appraiser. The buyer’s lender, who just happened to be the same mega lender who was foreclosing on the loan, said that the home was only worth $240,000 – $33,000 less than our negotiated price. Oy Vey!
The amazing thing is that the buyer would probably have come up with the extra funds anyway, but instead we went back to Freddie to appeal the appraisal. They had a second appraisal done. This one came in at $256,000. And now we waited while Freddie decided what they were going to do. In one paragraph I just explained this process which actually took a month of laborious communication and decision making and then they made their decision that they will sell it to the buyer for $240,000! Whoa!!!
At this point since Jon and/or I had been on the phone each day with Freddie, or the servicers, I think they were tired of hearing the name “Bodeen” and we really think they may have wanted to do us a good turn (or get us off their %#*) considering all the ups and downs we went through.
The best part of all this was the very appreciative phone call I got from the buyer a few days later while he was physically moving into his “dream home.”
And now you know the rest and best of the story!
