The Merits of Tenacity
Perhaps they deserve it, but the recent economic crisis has struck fear into the hearts of lenders across the country. After taking a series of lashings from the media, public opinion, and their own bottom line as a result of their undisciplined and, well, downright greedy lending practices, lenders have become more cautious than ever when it comes to approving loans. And because of that, it is a particularly difficult time to be working with banks.
A dose of caution is probably not the worst thing for our society right now, but it is making certain aspects of doing business in the real estate world more difficult. The solution? Tenacity. In an environment where it seems like everyone is hesitant, fierce persistence is the only way to see things through.
Persistence (Literally) Pays
Case in point: On Monday, October 5, 2009 I closed on a short sale (see my blog on short sales) for a contract entered into on October 25, 2008. Yes, it took 339 days to close this transaction.
I found it to be one of the most challenging, frustrating and confusing files I’ve ever worked on. Why would Chase Mortgage not want a contract for $800,000? Granted they were taking a $400,000 hit, but the market had tanked and even if they went to foreclosure, they could not do better than the contract we had for them. Yet they stalled. First they would tell me that they didn’t have my documents – we’d send them in again. Then they would say they were missing a document – even though the document they were missing was in the middle of a pdf package we had sent. Then they would say that they changed their forms and I had to have my client fill out a new set of forms. After months of this they said they were missing the correct form to authorize me to speak for my client (I fixed this problem - I got my client’s Power of Attorney so that they could speak to me as if I were the client!). And then I waited and waited and waited.
Finally, I got tired of waiting. I called the Executive Resolution Center for Chase. They are part of the Executive Offices of the bank. I’d like to say that they help resolve the problem, but I got stonewalled there as well.
After ER put me in touch with my negotiator I got approval for the closing pending certain documents. As soon as I got him the documents (via email) I got an autoresponse that he was out of the office and that when he returned he would be in a different department. I had to start back with ER again. Vocalizing my frustration to my own banker at my Chase branch, he sat down with me for an hour after closing making phone calls and looking up the hierarchy charts. He gave me the names and phone numbers of the people I needed to talk to and the supervisors one and two levels above them. The next day I called the woman in ER who was assigned to my file and told her of my problem with not having a negotiator to resolve my closing. She said she would take care of it. I gave her three hours. There was no return phone call, so I called and had to leave a message on her voice mail. I waited 30 minutes longer and I called her boss – and left a voice mail message. Within minutes I had a return phone call with her asking “Did you just call my boss???” I explained that I did, because I couldn’t seem to get a response from her. She put me on a three way call with my new negotiator.
Now it still took another 60 days before I could close, but I was dogged in my determination. On Monday, October 5, we completed the closing. Those daily phone calls and emails really helped.
When Times Get Tough...
Needless to say, I was pretty thrilled. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing a frustrating transaction all the way through. What I was able to take away from the experience was that, as the economy struggles through a slow recovery, the only way to be effective is to up the effort. If you’re in trying to get a loan or working on a short sale, I think it’s important to remember that, when times get tough, the tough get to work and they get tenacious. Persistence is half the battle.
A dose of caution is probably not the worst thing for our society right now, but it is making certain aspects of doing business in the real estate world more difficult. The solution? Tenacity. In an environment where it seems like everyone is hesitant, fierce persistence is the only way to see things through.
Persistence (Literally) Pays
Case in point: On Monday, October 5, 2009 I closed on a short sale (see my blog on short sales) for a contract entered into on October 25, 2008. Yes, it took 339 days to close this transaction.
I found it to be one of the most challenging, frustrating and confusing files I’ve ever worked on. Why would Chase Mortgage not want a contract for $800,000? Granted they were taking a $400,000 hit, but the market had tanked and even if they went to foreclosure, they could not do better than the contract we had for them. Yet they stalled. First they would tell me that they didn’t have my documents – we’d send them in again. Then they would say they were missing a document – even though the document they were missing was in the middle of a pdf package we had sent. Then they would say that they changed their forms and I had to have my client fill out a new set of forms. After months of this they said they were missing the correct form to authorize me to speak for my client (I fixed this problem - I got my client’s Power of Attorney so that they could speak to me as if I were the client!). And then I waited and waited and waited.
Finally, I got tired of waiting. I called the Executive Resolution Center for Chase. They are part of the Executive Offices of the bank. I’d like to say that they help resolve the problem, but I got stonewalled there as well.
After ER put me in touch with my negotiator I got approval for the closing pending certain documents. As soon as I got him the documents (via email) I got an autoresponse that he was out of the office and that when he returned he would be in a different department. I had to start back with ER again. Vocalizing my frustration to my own banker at my Chase branch, he sat down with me for an hour after closing making phone calls and looking up the hierarchy charts. He gave me the names and phone numbers of the people I needed to talk to and the supervisors one and two levels above them. The next day I called the woman in ER who was assigned to my file and told her of my problem with not having a negotiator to resolve my closing. She said she would take care of it. I gave her three hours. There was no return phone call, so I called and had to leave a message on her voice mail. I waited 30 minutes longer and I called her boss – and left a voice mail message. Within minutes I had a return phone call with her asking “Did you just call my boss???” I explained that I did, because I couldn’t seem to get a response from her. She put me on a three way call with my new negotiator.
Now it still took another 60 days before I could close, but I was dogged in my determination. On Monday, October 5, we completed the closing. Those daily phone calls and emails really helped.
When Times Get Tough...
Needless to say, I was pretty thrilled. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing a frustrating transaction all the way through. What I was able to take away from the experience was that, as the economy struggles through a slow recovery, the only way to be effective is to up the effort. If you’re in trying to get a loan or working on a short sale, I think it’s important to remember that, when times get tough, the tough get to work and they get tenacious. Persistence is half the battle.
posted by Erica Minchella at
12:13 PM
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