short sale....listing agreement?

Question

Short sale rookie question.....
I am attempting a short sale. I already have an authorize to release information with the lender and have received their list for short sale package. The lender is asking for a listing agreement and the house is not listed through a realtor. Do I need to have this house listed through a realtor? Or can I just indicate that there is no listing and that upon acceptance of my offer that I would be opening escrow through a title company?
And for the HUD 1 statement, any help on what items I need to include would be appreciated. I have blank HUD 1 forms as well as complete forms from prior purchase and sales, but not real sure how much difference there will be in "buyer pays" on the form. What I mean is, will I pretty much be showing any and all fees to be paid in the buyer's column since it's a short sale?
Hope that made sense.

Mario Dattilo · Answer

Revised

Don Sheppard · Answer

There is only a 1st mortgage. ASC America's Servicing Company has that. I did have a title search ran prior, the title agent is a friend of my realtor who is a friend of mine, so I snuck it through without having to pay  8) and I don't expect any surprises there. Having friends in the business sure does help. But yeah, that's probably good advice for me to go ahead and have that all done more officially since it looks as though the offer may be accepted. 
I expect their negotiator to be a negotiator and ask for more, but I'm thinking since I heard that the offer meets their criteria that I may stand firm on my price even though I still had room to offer more if needed and still meet my criteria.

Don Sheppard · Answer

Oh BTW.....the repair estimate was not from my construction company. It was from a different licensed contractor that is a friend of mine  :wink:

Don Sheppard · Answer

Just to respond to what you just said Mario......yes, the lender on this deal is satisfied with the house not being listed. I did include an explanation as to why, that I was buying direct and that way there wouldn't be realtor commissions being paid. 
I did however also include a guesstimate HUD statement (with Prelimary largely written on the top), enough to show some of the various numbers and of course mainly to show the seller netting ZERO. There are back prop taxes owed that I didn't figure the lender would pay so I included them when crunching my numbers for the offer. I also stated that I would open escrow upon acceptance of the offer. Live and learn.....in the future I will use back taxes etc. as more of a negotiating tactic .
I did just hear last week that the offer looked good, and it was sent on to their negotiator for further review.
I must have really influenced the BPO already. I included pictures of problem areas, and an inflated repair cost estimate. My offer was basically at 70% ARV less repairs and yet I was told that my offer looked good "because it was better than the 75% FMV that they require. There has been no walk through of the property so I figure they must have used the pictures, estimate, and maybe a driveby to get their FMV figure already.

Mario Dattilo · Answer

Revised

Thomas Lethcoe · Answer

Sorry for late post(i Just Joined ) ,but , hopefully it can help on future short sales. The real finite answer is being missed here. The rep at the bank has a checklist they must meet , all they are doing is working down the list. What you really need to find out is DOES THE HOUSE ACTUALLY HAVE TO BE LISTED? Really all you might need is the listing agreement , not that the house actually be listed.

Hope this Helps , and yes this is true to the best of my knowledge.

Account Closed · Answer

Here is a question for you...

Why would the bank accept a short sale if the homeowner hasn't even attempted to sell it for a decent price first?

The listing does help. You should get one. Most realtors (and I have my license so I can speak here) will overprice the home. If the home is overleveraged, you will have to list for a price that makes the seller break even. As that home sits on the market with no showings, no offers, etc. The lender will see yet another reason they have to short it.

So, while some lenders may not require it to be listed, it really should be for your benefit.

Don Sheppard · Answer

Thanks for the reply.
And yes, it seems quite logical to have a listed home with no offers would help persuade the lender to short sale. 
What about in a situation where the house hasn't been listed, and the trustee sale date is too close to really allow a listing?

Also, without a realtor/listing wouldn't that allow the seller/lender to save even more not paying realtor commissions and possibly help justify the reduced price? My thinking may be off on that.....I'm still trying to learn about these short sales.

Another thought, if it's listed through a realtor than I would then need a buyer's agent right? I've previously tried talking directly to realtors on REOs and they wanted me to have an agent to represent me for negotiations. Something that I ran across stated that in Calif it is illegal for a realtor to represent a buyer on a short sale if....
    * The home qualifies as the seller's personal residence.

* The property is a single family home or 2 to 4 units.

* A Notice of Default has been filed in the public records against the property.

* The investor buyer will not occupy the property.

I could lie and state that I intend to occupy the property, but would prefer not to take any chance that my realtor might be putting her neck on the chopping block if this is the case.