Mr. Cooper / BofNY Note Purchase Suggestion?

[Neil L.]

We are working with a SFH seller who hasn't made a mortgage payment in 7 years. His arrearage exceeds his principle balance on the loan. The mortgage company just won't foreclose on the house because they know it will not bring very much money at the auction.

The seller makes good money and doesn't want to provide his financial information to Mr. Cooper for a short sale and just wants to get rid of the home. He wouldn't qualify anyway. He got behind in the first place due to a stupid error by the bank but he can't prove it. It's just snowballed from there.

Investor on the Loan is Bank of New York. Servicer is Mr. Cooper. UPB is about $80,000. Amount to cure loan is ~$100,000. Property Value is $80,000. Loan was originated in 2010. Property is in Louisville, Kentucky.

We'd love to BUY THE NOTE but with this being such a big bank I don't see that happening without buying a large pool of notes. Does anyone have experience working with this servicing company/investor or have ideas on where to begin?

[Andy Mirza]

@Neil L. If the bank isn't putting the loan out for bid already, it's not open to selling the loan at all. With the property value where it's at, it IS worth foreclosing on. Most likely there is something behind the scenes that's holding up the progress. Also, the bank might have something internal going on where they're not proceeding FCs because of COVID. Who knows?

The short sale route requires the seller's cooperation but if he's not concerned about his credit or eventually getting another loan, it doesn't sound like he's motivated enough. (To get a future conventional loan, you have to wait 7 years after a foreclosure and 4 years after a short sale.)

Also, in a short sale situation, the bank will most likely require the property to be listed by a real estate agent in order to get the highest amount for the property. This means that you would be competing with everyone else. Not workable if your goal is to wholesale the property.