Hello Friends
I am frustrated and I need your help. I have been working with Ocwen on a short sale. They messed up on a few items with another offer that I had in with them and now I have another offer that I have submitted and was promised an approval in 48 hours.
The foreclosure date is set for May 25th 2009. They will only issue an approval for 30 days. If we can’t get the transaction closed by then, they will automatically go into foreclosure. No ifs, ands or buts about it. The buyers loan is an FHA and they are now typically taking 6 weeks to close because of the high volume of loans they are handling. Ocwen specifically states that they DO NOT push back a foreclosure date just because they are negotiating a short sale. That is not the case with other lenders at all. No matter how hard I pleaded, that is their hardline answer. Obviously they would rather foreclosure–it actually seems to be their goal.
The buyers do not want to push the envelope and spend money on an inspection and appraisal only to have the bank foreclose because we can’t get the deal done in time. Now the buyers will walk and all of our hard work has been for naught!!
Can anyone share with me any of your experiences with Ocwen? Has anyone had any luck in getting a foreclosure date pushed back with Ocwen? I have asked to speak with the VP/Supervisor etc but they way they work is that anyone who picks up the phone at Ocwen becomes the negotiator.
If this is the way they do business, I can honestly say that I will not take another short sale with Ocwen. Not only is it stressful for the agents involved but also for the sellers and buyers. We get so close and everyone works so hard and does their due dilligence and in the end it all collapses like a house of cards.
Please…any advice or information that you can share with me will be helpful.
Elise Fay
John Hall & Assoc.
We are not the FHA, VA, USDA, HUD or any other government organization. The content on this blog is intended for information purposes only. 
Elise,
I know exactly what you’re talking about, as I use to be in your same situation a few times.
A suggestion to you if I may, find an attorney based company
to see if there are any TILA violations to postpone the foreclosure.
Here is more information on this topic:
http://www.consumerwarningnetwork.com/2008/06/19/produce-the-note-how-to/
Who is the investor and what type of loan does the seller have?
Did the seller refinance within the past 3 years and is this their primary?
Paul Jerome
Paul
This is the first lien holder and the loan is a conventional. They have a 2nd with HFC-I think. I do not know who the investor is, the tax records say Fannie Mae. It was their primary but do due a job loss etc things did not work out in AZ so they had to move back to Calif. It was always their primary-they do not own another home.
Fannie Mae loans seem to have their foreclosure dates pushed back all the time, even without asking, and they pay a full 6% on commissions (new guidelines) but Ocwen has their own rules.
What do you have for me?
Elise
I am currently in short sale negotiations with Ocwen, fine tuning the HUD to all of their specifications. On Monday I was told that I would have an answer within 5 to 7 days. This morning I was told that to stop the auction (scheduled for Friday)that the money would have to be wired today!
Two weeks of heavy negotiations, countless revised HUD’s and counter offers and promises that the auction would be set over. Today they told me auctions are never set over!
I’ve actually had successful short sales with Ocwen in the past and the auctions were definitely set over. What’s the new deal? Anyone know what’s going on??
Sandy
Sandy
I am sorry that this has taken such drastic turn for you and your client. I was told that if I got a “committment letter” from the lender that they would postpone the sale date about 3 weeks. My advice is to keep calling several times a day until you get someone sympathetic to your situation. At Ocwen, whoever answers the phone IS the negotiator. I proceeded that way and ended up calling Ocwen about a 2nd on another short sale and casually mentioned my situation on another loan and he put me on hold to speak with his manager. He told me that if I promised not to hound him he would give me his email address. Once I got the committment letter I was told to email him and he would then contact me with his manager’s fax number and I could send it over to him for a postponement. Someone originally told me that it was not Ocwen’s fault that it took so long for me to get an offer!
I think what they are trying to do is prevent homeowners from just submitting offers that may not be very serious, just to keep getting postponements and living in the house rent free, especially when the owner has been delinquent for quite some time. They prefer to take over the house, foreclose and get their team in there to make repairs and put it on the market. That way they are in total control and can see an end in sight.
Sometimes even a 3 week postponement won’t work, especially if you have an FHA Buyer. In AZ it is taking about 6 weeks to close those loans.
Hope this helps.
Elise Fay
John Hall & Assoc.
Update on Ocwen and Short Sales. Well after weeks of pleading and begging (and even having the seller cry) Ocwen has refused to push back the foreclosure date 3 weeks to get the loan done from the buyer. With an approved offer from the 1st Ocwen and the 2nd, a great one at that, the home is due to go to Auction on May 20th. Ocwen even went so far as to say that the Attorney’s won’t allow them to push back the date. I told them they were not being truthful and that the Attny’s were just waiting for word from Ocwen but… Deutsche Bank is the note holder and I would love to be able to notify them of the disservice that Ocwen is doing but they appointed them Power of Attorney. The bank will ultimately lose tens of thousands of dollars at the least and Ocwen just does not care. Tread carefully when dealing with Ocwen.
This is the exact same situation we just experienced! We were in Escrow and down to the last couple of days of completing a short sale and we got a phone call that the house had been sold at auction 2 days prior. We had just been told by the sellers’ broker that Ocwen had verbally confirmed to him that they were extending their closing deadline because the delay was not due to us but rather due to the Sellers being unresponsive and not signing the docs in a timely manner. And we were paying over the Listing Price and paying in CASH.
I don’t understand why Ocwen would auction off a house for thousands of dollars LESS than they would be getting in CASH in 5 days. We were no risk; we had jumped through so many hoops and were paying CASH.
Does anyone have any insight as to why a lender would do such a thing? How do they benefit?
Linda
Sorry to hear that. I understand the frustration. It does seem odd to me that Ocwen would sympathize with an unresponsive seller and just extend the timeline. Extending the closing deadline does not mean an extension on the foreclosure date. Those are 2 separate items and it is always important that they be addressed as such-don’t assume. Ocwen agents will tell you anything to get you off the phone and it doesn’t count unless you get it in writing. The bottom line with MOST servicers/lenders is that if the numbers work out and they will yield even a few more pennies to short sale a home over a foreclosure, they will short sale. It is all business and they will always follow the numbers, no emotions here!
There have been some new guidelines that have rolled out since maybe July as part of the Making Home Affordable Program. I noticed online that Ocwen is a participating servicer. I don’t know how long ago you started your short sale process with Ocwen but I would be curious to find out if things change going forward. I have not taken a short sale with Ocwen as the 1st lien holder since.
I will be talking about some of those changes and guidelines in a separate posting. Hopefully it will streamline the process a bit and give some uniformity to the short sale process across many lenders.
Elise Fay
Glendale AZ Short Sales
http://www.HomesByElise.com
Ocwen is a tough cookie to crack. It’s funny to think that I read recently that they were actually behind 45 percent of the actual performing loan modifications. Its strange how they are so on top of something and on the short sale side they are a mess. This has been the case for years and of hundreds of short sales we’ve completed they are definitely one of the most aloof group of people that we have dealt with. Most times you get a guy in India that tells you he can’t do anything! We only deal with those agents in West Palm Beach and when it seems that it is one of those days that we seem to only be getting the call center in India we call in and speak to a Spanish representative. We have a lot of tips for them but this seems like one of the most powerful ones… only issue is you have to be able to speak Spanish… We do so it looks like we are covered
.
Another huge factor in all this is what someone mentioned about about the amount that they were going to get at the foreclosure sale vs. the amount they would have gotten from the Short Sale. This is commonly referred to as the foreclosure net proceeds amount. We spoke about this on out blog in a post called, “Bank of America(BAC): Foreclosure Net Proceeds; Forecast points to Death for your Deal” Click here for the article. This is an issue that comes up all the time and if the bank feels that the net of a short sale will be less than their net after a foreclosure sale you can believe that the lender cares more about the money that they can recoup for their investors than the credit of their soon to be x-borrower.
When companies like ours process short sale for *free* for homeowner you better believe that we will analyze as many angles as possible to get our deals done or no one gets paid.
Keep up the good work everyone and if you need any assistance please feel free to reach me at the contact information below.
Regards,
Jonathan Katz | Account Manager | Absolute Consultant Group
We’re Your Voice in the Industry ™
26500 W. Agoura Rd. Suite 102-252 | Calabasas, California 91302
(Tel) 888-945-5553 x.1 | ( (Fax) 877-544-0104
(E-mail) jkatz@acgnow.com
http://www.ACGNow.com
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To work with Ocwen bank was the most horrible experience that I had working with Short Sales transactions.
It is extremely slow.
They don’t know what they are talking about because it is impossible to talk with the negotiator, the person who pick up the phone is the person who give to you all the information even thou have not experience or knowledge at all.
April 20, 2010
Dear Elise,
Who do I contact at Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC about negotiating a short sale. I am willing to let a realtor handle the offer if need be. I don’t have a phone number for Ocwen or a contact person. Need some help.
Sincerely,
Mark Davis
How are all of you reaching a human at OCWEN???? I have a short sale, OCWEN is the second. They keep sending me a fax stating the HUD needs to show ocwens net and the correct property address….my HUD has both of these!!! I cannot contact anyone, there isnt really a customer service line, It only goes to Eve Sparsha’s voicemail! SHe does not call back. I have faxed the HUD and entire packet about 20 times over the past month, and everytime get the same fax about once a week. What am I doing wrong, and how can I reach a live person??? Please let me know if you have ANY tips. Thanks!
Lauren
I am an Ocwen Customer. I had a 1st and 2nd loan with them. Last Novemeber I got Ocwen to settle my second mortgage for $10,000…at the time of settlement I owed $45,000. Now I only have my first mortgage to deal with, however, I got stuck paying income taxes on my “debt forgiveness”….$8000! So be careful, because the part about the taxes was not explained to my by Ocwen when they decided to settle my 2nd mortgage.
I am an Ocwen Customer. I am not late on my payments at all however I am thinking about doing a short sale on my property. Our home is not worth what we paid for it and all the comparibles close to us are aobut $150,000 less than what we owe on our home. My income dropped $30,000 in 2010 and I no longer can afford my mortgage payments. I already have a loan modification but still is not enough. Can someone who has experience with short sales help me? I want to sell and it looks like a short sale is only option…..We owe $570,000 and our home is worth $500,000.
I am an ocwen customer/home owner. We (our realtor) are getting ready to submit our buyers offer to OCWEN. We owe about 260,000 the offer is 150,000. The closing date is just over 30 days from now…. Was hoping to get info on about how long Ocwen decision takes and what anyones rate of success is with that much of a difference between the offer and whats owed…I lost my job 3 yrs ago and our side business ended..while we arent going into foreclosure its getting harder and harder each month…we lost about 80,000 a years income and stay at least month behind on our mortgage
I am currently working on an Ocwen short sale…much to my dismay. If you haven’t sumbitted the offer to Ocwen yet how do you know when your closing date is? Here in Arizona our short sale addendum states that the closing date will be 30-45 days after approval from the bank. Any specific closing date on the contract is not something we abide by since we are waiting for a 3rd party approval. As long as the package is complete and the BPO/Appraisal is done on the property, then you MAY hear something within 30 days from Ocwen but probably lower. As long as the numbers work and the BPO/Appraisal that Ocwen does is in line with your offer, it should be approved. I know Ocwen only allows a total of about 8% in closing costs, total, to be paid out of their proceeds. Hope this helps. Don’t give up but don’t expect miracles with Ocwen.
Thanks Elise…I’m located in MD..I’m not sure if the closing date is set, it’s what was on the contract from our realtor…and it looks like the buyer is asking for 6% settlement help…