A new bill introduced earlier this week aims to change long lender delays with short sales.
The bill, titled the “Prompt Decision for Qualification for Short Sale Act of 2011,” was sponsored by U.S. Reps Tom Rooney (R-FL) and Robert Andrews (D-NJ) on Tuesday. The bill will require lenders to decide on an offer within 45 days.
Rep. Andrews said, “Potential buyers can wait for months for a lender to make a decision on a short sale, and that wait often stops a sale from happening.”
The new bill would address that wait and uncertainty by giving lenders a hard time limit to decide, which Rep. Rooney says, “would speed transactions and help prevent homes from going into foreclosure.”
Response from the real estate industry has been generally positive. Short sales can be difficult and time consuming, but still represent 13 percent of all recent home sales, according to National Association of Realtors data. “Many would-be buyers end up walking away from a sale that could have saved a home owner from foreclosure,” said NAR President Ron Phipps.
The new bill takes aim at the biggest problems in the short sale market, delays and inefficiencies. According to Phipps, “Streamlining short sales transactions will reduce the amount of time it takes to sell the property, improve the likelihood that the transaction will close and reduce the overall number of foreclosures. This benefits sellers, lenders, buyers and the entire community.”
The full text of the bill is available here, and those interested in tracking the progress of the bill through Congress can do so here.
Hi,
I am a Realtor facing every day problems with short sale.I would like to point where the problems are.1.Lenders to post on their websites dirrect phone ## for owners and realtors where they can call/MANDATORY for all lenders/. 2.For all properties in pre or foreclosure all lenders to have on hand BPO or appraisal done/Mandatory/.
#1.To find the right phone where to call is a nightmare.At least 50 calls has to be made to finally find the right phone and person to talk.
#2. All properties in pre or foreclosure – appraisal or BPO must be done at some point.If this is done at the beggining will save a lot of time for all parties.And if the property goes back to lender – the price is already set and sell as REO.
The Congess must step in and regulate the way lenders are processing short sale till the market gets back to normal.