What is the saying....if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a duck.

From this post and previous posts you seem to be doing fine without assistance from a specialist. While it won't cost you anything to listen, I would be very leary. I would also not sign anything and ask for contact info for people they have assisted.

In the meantime, you know the lender has started to cooperate, offer an additional 3-5% and see if it gets you anywhere.(I don't recall what the amount owed is.) When I've listed short sales in the past a few agents were wise enough to know to increase the offers in small amounts so that the buyer got it for the least amount possible. Remember that this person's job is to get as much money back as possible for the lender. Keep plugging away at it.

Good Luck

I would suggest having a RE lawyer look over any documents. Also check to see if the company your seller has contacted is registered in your state to handle such sales. Where are they located,--address--phone # including a non 800--could tell you where they are located---complaints with your state board of realtors--
Personally, does not sound good. She needs to give you more information--Name etc

I don't see how getting a 3rd party involved will help either of you. Granted, I have no experience at all in this type of sale, but see no need for this middleman. I don't see how they cannot increase the costs to you and the seller.

Just wanted to update, and in case others find themselves in the same situation.

We met one of the two partners yesterday. Turns out it was a homemaker looking to supplement the family income. This is only her second deal and the first has not reached completion yet, but is cleared for purchase by her and partner (another lady who "works out of the house and handles the bank side of things"). Now she needs to find a buyer for deal #1. In deal #2, she has a ready buyer (me) so a large part of their work is done.

The home-based partner apparently has been doing this for two years and "living off the income". It is essentially houseflipping. She attended a class, and claims to know how to reach the right people at the lender, and present the package in such a way as to persuade them to take an offer which is lower than payoff.

(Note: the only business card she was able to present only had a pitch on it and a phone number. No business name, and on the back of the card was an ad from a firm that prints free business cards! Sort of like running a serious business using a Yahoo email acct).

Of course, the spread between their accepted offer and what a buyer pays is their profit. Which means, for me to stay at my price, the lender would lose even more money than with my current offer. Chances of this seem slim, and when I asked what happens if the lender accepts a figure the same as, or higher than my offer, they reluctantly admitted that I would have to "get on the elevator" if I wanted the house.

Hmmm. Unless they can bring something to the table which is way stronger than a vague promise, I am not so sure about this. Plus, they would need the seller's loan number AND SSN in order to contact the bank. Understandably, she is loath to part with that info, particularly after having been through what appears to be an acrimonious divorce and now left with 3 kids and a home that is beyond her means, and which continues to drain her savings daily.

We have, for better or worse (in a business sense), bonded with this lady, and feel terrible for her and want to help her. (And no, she is NOT a scammer). But cannot responsibly do so at a cost to our own family finances to the tune of tens of thousands.

Herus
run do not walk away from those "partners"
Why should they make money doing what you both can do.
Have the homeowner see if she can find out from the bank what they are looking for. Beleive me they do not want to end up with the house. If she is not getting a acceptable response from who she is talking to at the Mortgage company have her
"go up the ladder" explaining the situation to a "supervisor" may get more results.
good luck and good luck to the woman selling sounds like she has had some rough times
Karla

Has the seller signed anything with them? Are they licensed? They sound kinda of shaky to say the least. It sounds like they may be acting as real estate agents and if they are licensed, there is a big problem. If she hasn't signed anything with them, I wouldn't bother with them and just use the lender directly. If she has, I don't think there's anything you can do for her. I wish you all the best of luck.

I really don't see why you need any outside party at all. What are they doing for you?

You have each found a buyer/seller. All you need is a price. One the bank will accept. If the owner can't get the bank to tell her what it is, then just keep raising the price by $10k w/ each offer (or $5k, whatever) until you either get the bank to say yes, or it is too much money for you.

There's really nothing else going on here, it seems to me.

At my advice and her own good judgement, she has not signed anything, requesting time to sleep on it. She told me privately this would be a very last resort, after exhausting all other avenues.

They do not appear to be licensed (I didn't ask) but their amateur approach to the whole thing made me quite leery.

If the bank is already talking to you - you don't need a "specialist," and especially not one that is inexperienced.

I own one of those "we buy houses" busineses. I don't personally do three party deals. When I buy a house, it's for my own use as a rental or resale at a later date. But if I were to offer assistance, the only advanatge I can potentially offer is that I have long term existing relationships with banks and hopefully with the specific bank involved. If its a bank I never dealt with, I have no better chance than you.

I will warn you that short sales take a LONG TIME, even for experienced folks. This is counter intuitive to what you may think - but it's not unusual for it take several months for a bank to make up its mine. The link below is for another post on short sales in which dave_donhoff describes his 15+ month attempt to complete a short sale.

I have a real estate license and a loan officer's license. BUT - you don't need either in NC to do short sales. So there would be no place for this type of business to register or get licensed. Not sure how it is in other places.

Here is a link that might be useful: bank short sale

I am back to ask more questions! While things have changed, we are still in pursuit of this home.

The new news: the 'specialists' were not hired. The seller (by now we are on friendly terms as I mentioned above) hired a realtor who contacted her. This realtor claimed experience with short sales and convinced the owner she could get out from under the home quickly. She priced the home about 20% less than the mortgaged figure. (you will recall I stated the home needs work and the mortgage amount is in excess of worth - by how much I don't really know). I also suspect the timing of the offer

So - the new listing gets an offer the first day, at list price no less! By various indications which I will not get into here, I am sure this person is an investor (I have continued dialog with the seller, almost daily.).

So we countered, at about 1.5% above list price. So they countered, this time about 4% over list price. While my first reaction was to counter the counter, I started thinking I should not get into a war of escalation before the bank is even able to accept any offers. They need to send their own appraiser out to determine "true market value" so that they can be justify the short sale to their bosses. This appraisal will probably take place within the week.

So - now I am sitting tight, waiting for the appraisal to come in, after which I need to beat the other offer and perhaps also equal the appraisal if it is yet higher than that. In the meantime, we are getting nervous - what if the bank takes the higher offer (not mine) even before the appraisal comes in? I am being assured by various parties that it cannot do so, but that doubt is still there.

There are a few more details in what has become a fairly complicated deal, but I won't go into those here unless they become germane.

Anyone care to chime in about what course of action seems suitable?

Update: After typing the above, my agent called and said the listing agent wants our counteroffer in by 5 tonite. No word on why or what she plans to do with that offer. Color me stressed.

This whole scenerio sounds pretty dubious to me. From reading your earlier post I thought you did not have a RE agent, but your last post indicates that you do. HE/She should have been more helpful to make this process work. If someone has a higher offer in than you, bottom line is you run the risk of losing the house. Keep in mind this isn't just between you and the other bidder. Someone else could always coem along and put in an offer that beats both of you and you may not even get the opportunity to counter. Unless you have soemoen really good working with you on this I would just walk away.

I have been working with the same agent for some time. When I met this seller, the home had not been listed and she said the reason was that the bank would not agree to pay the RE fees. However, this turned overnight and suddenly the home was listed on MLS. I then inquired if I could bring in my agent and was answered in the affirmative.

Note that it is the lienholder, the mortgage company, that will decide which is the price to accept. Agree that a third buyer could show up; that would just make it a 3 (or more) way competition. Further, we have it from the horse's mouth (ie the mortgage co) that they cannot accept ANY offer less than amount owed unless their appraiser values it at that amount or less. That appraisal has been ordered but not scheduled as of this writing. As for amount owed, it is still some distance away from the current round of offers and frankly, the home may not be worth that.

And sorry, we are not of a mind to walk away. We have been searching for a suitable upgrade abode for some time and now that it appears to be here we will either give or get a good bruising before it is over.