California Short Sale Attorney

Michael Gaddis recently closed a short sale in Huntington Beach, CA.  The short sale involved 2 lien holders, a Chase first lien and a PNC second lien.  Both the first and second loans had recourse provisions so it was extremely important to the homeowner that the short sale be successful.  The transaction appeared to be moving along smoothly until an authorization to close was submitted to Chase.  Chase refused to close the loan because the transaction was a HAFA transaction and the 2nd lien holder approval was for $6363, $363 more than Chase alleged HAFA allowed the first lien holder to give the second.  Michael Gaddis pointed out to Chase that HAFA recently changed their directive to allow for 2nd lien approvals up to $8500 and provided documentation to Chase to support this.  Chase responded (after Michael Gaddis was able to locate someone within Chase that knew what he was talking about) by stating that they were aware of the new directive but that they were not implementing this change until the middle of June.  Michael Gaddis pointed out that Chase was only paying for $6,000 and that the $363 was being paid for by the Buyer.  Chase said that the approval had to say $6,000 and not a penny more.  They went on to say that it did not matter who was willing to pay the amount over the $6,000.  According to Chase, HAFA was strict and the final HUD could not state any more than $6,000.  That was their story and they were sticking to it.

Although Chase’s response was a road block, Michael Gaddis was determined to preserve the HAFA short sale for his client.  The alternative would be to obtain a non-HAFA short sale approval, however, non-HAFA short sales would not have given the homeowner $3000 for moving expenses.  Michael Gaddis was determined to obtain the HAFA short sale for his client so he approached PNC about reducing their approval by $363.  The negotiators refused stating that their investor guidelines stated that was as low as they could go.  Fortunately, due to his loan modification experience, Michael Gaddis knew several high ranking contacts within PNC.  He approached these contacts and advised them of the scenario.  Although they reiterated what the PNC negotiator had told him, they told Michael Gaddis that they would do what they could.  Two days later Michael Gaddis received a new approval from PNC with a payoff demand of $6000.

Since PNC agreed to lower their demand by $363 Chase authorized closing and the HAFA short sale was finalized and the homeowner received his $3000 moving expense.

The moral of this story is that not all real estate agents are created equal.  Short sales are not easy and it takes someone extremely knowledgeable and capable to represent you. If you are located in San Diego, Orange or Riverside County and in need of a short sale, call Michael Gaddis, Esq. at 760-754-2121.