Where did the money actually go?

[Mary Ann Rocco]

I'm a private buyer in California on a short sale with 2 loans. Owners haven't made payments in about 16 months and left the house about a year ago.

Fake numbers here just to make my point. I took my buyer closing costs out of both sides of the equation to simplify the example.

MY ORIGINAL CONTRACT:
Sale Price: 200,000
Additonal to 2nd: 16,000
2% in Commissions: 4,000
TOTAL: 220,000

AMOUNT GOING IN TO ESCROW:
Bank Loan: 160,000
from Me: 60,000
TOTAL: 220,000

So far so good. I got copies of the short sale letters literally the day I had to close (the SS letters would expire). I wanted to understand where the money was going. The seller costs were not listed in my HUD-1 statement, just my buyer costs showing the 200,000 sale price plus the additonal out of pocket on the 2nd and the various closing costs. No details on how that 200,000 was really broken down and who was really getting what. The escrow co would not tell me when I asked , basically that I wasn't entitled to that info. Here is what I know.

Amount in 1st SS letter: 160,000
Amount in 2nd SS letter: 27,000
Agent Commissions: 12,000
My estimate of seller closing costs: 6,000 (I estimated high)
TOTAL 205,000

So where did the other 15,000 go? Why wouldn't the escrow company give me this information...why won't ANYONE give me this information? Is there some seller cost that I'm missing? Is it possible that the SS letters exclude any back interest owed such that more had to go to those banks? I moved forward and closed escrow today but I can't seem to let this go in my mind. It's driving me crazy...

[Vikram C.]

That's strange. You will normally sign a settlement statement which has a section called "Summary of Borrower's Transaction" and another section called "Summary of Seller's Transaction." These are sections J and K in the HUD-1 form. They should give you all the details that you need.

I thought this form would be the same throughout the country and not specific to AZ. Please recheck the document you signed to see if you missed something.