Buyers and Sellers of Jacksonville short sales beware. There is an emerging phenomenon we're encountering working Jacksonville Short Sales. We've seen several Jacksonville area title companies who have been struggling for business that have decided to stick a label of "Short Sale Specialists" on their operation to get more business. These title companies we're seeing do this are seriously hiking their fees up, "processing" the short sale transaction, and advertising themselves as experts. Based on our experience, these people and companies are not in any way experts. The ones we've encountered that are doing this are far from expert in the short sale arena. (Just like with anything else, I'm sure there are some really good ones...we just haven't encountered them yet.)
If you need to sell your Jacksonville home and you owe more than your home is worth, do not hire someone who is going to turn your transaction over to a title company to process. You want to hire an agent who has an understanding of short sales and the different guidelines and issues involved. You want to make sure your Jacksonville short sale specialist agent will be involved in the processing of your short sale after contract as well.
The latest title company "short sale specialist" experience we have had involves a "short sale specialist" who literally doesn't know the difference between FHA and Fannie Mae. This "short sale specialist" submitted a preliminary HUD to the seller's lender that indicated a higher payoff than was possible if she had properly accounted for all seller closing costs on the preliminary HUD. Then they came back to our buyer insisting that the buyer had to pay some of the sellers costs because the lender wouldn't. Not true, these costs were never properly accounted for and submitted to the lender...a step in the short sale process that is extremely important.
It is very important that the preliminary HUD have all possible costs accounted for, as well as extra time built in for the process to be completed. This "short sale specialist" apparently did not know this. This fact by itself can wreck a short sale deal up until the time of closing. The HUD they submitted to the lender also does not properly account for prorations, so we are expecting them to come back later and tell us that the buyer has to pay some of the seller's taxes. All of this could have been prevented with a knowledgeable person preparing the HUD correctly to submit to the lienholder. When we tried to explain the relevant guidelines to her (in this particular transaction the seller has a FHA loan, which is governed by the HUD PFS program guidelines) she kept calling this transaction a "Fannie Mae" (not the same thing!!!) and told us that Fannie Mae required 88% net (not true either, but Fannie Mae has nothing at all to do with this transaction.) Even if she had said "FHA requires an 88% net" it would not be accurate. FHA only requires the 88% net of fair market value for the first 30 days during the marketing period which begins when the PFS Approval to Participate has been issued. And this is an advertised "short sale specialist"
We've heard horror stories from other agents as well about these so called "short sale specialist" title companies and we've also experienced them. Be careful when dealing with them. IF you are a short sale seller, make sure your agent is a short sale specialist. If you are in the market to purchase a short sale property, this is a good idea as well. Deals that are put together correctly by knowledgeable short sale specialist agents usually go through.