Stay away from Wells Fargo! I am a cash buyer and have been involved a short sale action for over 6 months. Wells Fargo is extremely inefficient, unresponsive, and shady. I disagree with most of the posts on this page and strongly recommend avoiding working with Wells Fargo for any short sales. If there is another bank involved with Wells, then anticipate additional delays and nonsense from Wells Fargo. Also be warned that they may try to do a form of the bait and switch technique. After you get deeper into negotiations, they will get an independent appraisal, and counter with a price higher than the independent appraisal or comparable properties. See http://www.wellsfargowatch.com/node/5 for more information.

If the listing agent is experienced with short sales, and knows what they are doing (big "if"), the sellers lender may never see your offer. An experienced agent will suggest a seller accept ONE offer on a property, then present that offer and try to get it approved by their lender. Presenting multiple offers just confuses the negotiator at the lender. It also may discourage them from accepting ANY offer, and hold out for a higher one.

I hate to say it again, but if the listing agent knows what they are doing, the lender may never see your offer, regardless if it is a higher price or more attractive offer! Make sure you have a good short sale expert who is helping you in the process!

I am working with my neigbor to buy their house in a short sale and are certian we are the highest bidder of the three offers that are in. They tell me that I am third in line for this property. Will the negoitiator leverage that fact that I am the highest to quickly move through the other two offers in front of me? or bump me up in line? You would think the negotiator would leverage all three offers to get the highest price.

Any insight for me on this? Also working with the seller to possibly pull out of short sale and sell directly to me if the numbers work out.

Thanks in advance

Wells Fargo is definately the best of the large scale lenders. The are very consistent, and generally will approve them in 5-6 weeks. Here is an excellent resource if you are doing a short sale with Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo can be good for a short sale in which they are the ONLY lender. I have a file which there was another lien (wells fargo equity). The 2nd lien was higher than the 1st lien (with wells fargo) and they didn't want to pay more than $3k. The 2nd lender did not accept and thought it was unfair that they were getting such a small amount when the first was getting their total loan amount.

I just want to show that Wells Fargo is not ALwAYS so easy but they are traditionally easier than most lenders. I have worked with good ones other than wells.

If you need any help with short sales in the Bay Area, CA, please visit our site which has great info: http://shortsaleexpertsofsiliconvalley.com

Good Luck!!

Hi Pearl,

I know that Wells Fargo can push through short sales quickly. It depends on the terms of the offer. If you are the purchaser you have all the power, believe me. If you say that you will withdrawal your offer if you do not hear back by a certain date, you will get an answer. It all depends on how well your 'debt negotiatior' is representing the short sale offer. Good luck!

I am currently trying to buy a short sale property from a wells fargo controlled property....

We initially had to wait to put an offer as they had already been reviewing a previous offer and won't accept new ones until they reject the one in the works. that took a few weeks. That was in the beginning of May 09.

We put our offer that was 14k less then listed and asked for 7500 in closing costs. It only took two weeks for them to come back with an acceptance, but they said they could only give 1% in closing cost because I was using FHA financing which is their policy not the law we legally could have gotten up to 6%.

Since signing contracts responses from the "negotiator" and the bank have been much slower. I have gotten my mortgage and inspections completed with much pushing because they were aware that it was a short sale and put me on the "back burner". Our intended settlement date was for June 30th.

In our contract wells fargo says that 1) they reserve the right to back out for any reason at any time and 2) if/when they accept we only have 15 days to settle.

What I have found it that while they have certain response times that seem very reasonable they do things in stages and the time resets at each stage. I know that one period they should have been back with a final answer but asked for all documents again because they had lost some so another reset. Now we have been waiting three weeks with no response from either the negotiator lawyer or the bank even after sending them my completed loan documents in the hope of prompting them finalize the deal.

The scariest thing for me is loosing the good faith deposit and the time and money I had to put in to fix up the "as is" condition to pass the FHA appraisal

Pearl,
No Wells Fargo is very proactive and moves quickly on short sales. I am actually working on one with them right now and they have already ordered the BPO gotten it back and updated the system. When I called the other day for an update the file has been assigned to a negotiator and will be worked again on July 1. That is all within two weeks.

I have worked on some that took over 30 days just to acknowledge the fact that you sent in an offer. Just count your blessings and stay on top of whatever the agent asks for. Most of the time they do not need much from you but, from the seller.

Hope this helps,

Wells Fargo is a great lender to work short sales with. You'll find this a good resource if you are buying or selling

We did not deal with WF but CW... In Jan CW sent a letter stating that the review was taking place and would be completed within 30 days with the closing scheduled for 10 days later (some time begining to mid March). In April (after mutiple attempts to find out what was going on CW sent another letter stating that they were swamped and did not have time yet to process and it would be at least 2-3 more months. So unless you have the investor approval and closing date in writing do not start packing!

I closed two with Wells Fargo Last week alone. They have improved dramically over the last year. One of the ones I closed last month CLOSED in under 30 days from contract to closing. Of course, it was already assigned to a good negotiator at the bank, and we already knew they would accept that price.

Good luck dealing with Wells Fargo on a short sale. My husband and I made a full price offer on a home in Virginia Beach, that was accepted by seller and and was the only offer that the Realtor sent to Wells Fargo for lender approval. It was sent on November 2nd and we finally got an acceptance from Wells Fargo on March 2nd (4 months), only after they knew we were in the process of purchasing a different home. However it really wasn't an acceptance after all because they are still negotiating with the poor sellers and trying to get alot more money from them before they will truly accept our offer! We finally bought an REO...much smoother process!

I was involved in a short sale with Wells Fargo that took over 6 months to produce an answer from the bank and then ultimately never closed. The bank ended up wanting additional money and the buyer wasn't willing to go any higher. Unfortunately, my deal got lost somewhere in the process in spite of my weekly calls. Sometimes mistakes happen. Stay on top of the bank. Never speak with the person who answers the phone...always speak with management. After you get your answer, call back and make sure you get the same answer from the next person who answers the phone. You can never be too careful! Good luck!

Jennifer Hanley
REALTOR
Prudential Network Realty
Jacksonville, FL

I just closed one of my short sale listings where Wells Fargo was the lender. It moved so fast (for a short sale) that it almost made my head spin. Wells Fargo has their act together, doesn't play games, and really appears not to want to own the real estate that sellers are showing they can't make the payments on. You might be worrying that you offered too much since the bank appears to be "snapping up" your offer. This is probably not the case--you're just lucky to be dealing with a savvy lender and at a point in the mortgage default process that makes it possible to move quickly (not to mention a couple of good agents).

I agree, of course, that you should do your due diligence as you work towards this 30 day closing. Ask your agent for a comparative market analysis so that you can assure yourself that you're paying market value or less. Ask your agent if documents have been received from Wells Fargo approving their acceptance of a payoff that is less than what is owed. Also, ask for a preliminary HUD (closing cost statement) from the title company so you can see how the costs line up (borrower/seller). I've seen them come back sometimes with costs to borrower that you didn't anticipate. (Of course your contract will outline whether or not this is possible, so I advise really reading all the fine print -- especially the fine print in the short sale addenda.)

In summary, CONGRATULATIONS!! You are one of the lucky ones that didn't have to wait a lifetime for an answer.

Louise Warring
Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate
Lake Mary, Florida 32746

The question is "Has Wells Fargo 'approved' the short sale with the seller?" The closing date will revolve around the approval date from the lender. Best to have all your ducks in line including completion of your physical inspection and loan approval.

All the best,