Jeni Walker

Hi!

I just noticed that no one has answered your post - so I am going to recommend that you call your local school, or go in and ask the front desk person, they are always happy to help out with any questions. I believe the kids all receive a lunch number when you request it.
You have already probably gotten this question answered without needing my help, but I wanted to wish you good luck with that.

Jeni. - Fri Oct 31 2008, 19:16

I thought the pictures looked nice, too, but then I went to see the property for myself... and I believe the listing agent for the bank has built the 'fix' into the fixer price. It appears to need a lot of work. I believe this home could be made quite charming with some tender loving care, but the prospective buyer for this home will want to have several inspections such as home and roof and pest, at the very least. Sloping floors and strong smells upon entrance are not a good sign in a dream home. But the kitchen is large and the floor plan is open and friendly. And there is a large laundry room, which might balance out the fact that the small detached garage is going to need a lot of work, too. - Wed Oct 22 2008, 21:22

I should clarify that my husband Jim and I are both real estate agents. We are purchasing this property as a rental.

We have represented buyers in REO transactions many times but only rarely does the situation arise where the escrow company not only takes sides with the bank but gets huffy on the bank's behalf.

Now, as buyers, it's interesting that we are finding it harder to jump in and argue our own case, when as agents, we would ordinarily play hardball in our clients' interests (if the buyers so wish).

We are in the process now of sending documentation to the escrow officer indicating the customary fees in Sacramento. We are also calling on her to remember to act properly as the neutral third party she should be.

As for the listing agents forgetting their ethics and training, don't get me started. Longtime agents somehow seem to have been brainwashed by the banks into doing highly unethical behavior. One very well-known local agent had his assistant white out the contract where we represented the buyer, to change some items - and then they somehow cut and pasted in the buyer's initials at the bottom. (This is why we keep copies of the original contracts.)

Thank you all, by the way, for the good comments and advice. It's nice to know that 1) I'm not alone, and 2) I'm not crazy. Banks are a longtime pet peeve in the world of real estate, thinking they run the show.

-Jeni - Thu Oct 16 2008, 11:08

Sounds steep....Er the price that is .. but come to think of it? If the land is steep and full of poison oak maybe they are figuring in some degree of difficulty in their estimates? I think I might ask some of my title company contacts if I could get a survey along with my title insurance. Maybe some discount there? if ordered through the title insurer?. Great question, Michael, we'll be interested in the expert answers from the posters on Trulia. - Tue Oct 7 2008, 22:50

."Is the company that services my loan also the company that holds the mortgage?" Maybe, maybe not.

You know that 700 billion that Congress authorized last week for the administration to spend?
That 700B is earmarked for the purchase of collaterallized mortgage debt backed securities (CMBS)
I'll cite a sample representation of a CMBS: A packager (could have been Merrill Lynch, or Lehman Brothers)
took a thousand mortgages that it owned and labeled them all as " Portfolio Lehman 2006-ninja series WLL"
( originated in 2006 then a unique identifier. ) So Lehman (or whoever) sold the principal payments for the entire portfolio in percentages to other financiers, then they sold the interest payment stream to a bunch of other folks. then thye sold the stream of late charges to some other gamblers, then they sold the value of the servicing rights to a bunch of other companies.

Your loan might possibly be in such a portfolio, which in turn is owned by dozens of different companies, banks, hedge funds etcetera. This is one of the reasons that loan modifications and short sales are difficult to achieve in some situations even when the loan mod or short sale would have been the mortgage owners best chance of getting most of their investment back . How do you get a dozen different companies to agree on taking their losses in a timely manner if ever?

Or your mortgage might be held by a single entity. The servicing company knows who owns the mortgage. (or who owned it the last time they collected a payment). but I don't know if they will share that information with you. You could ask, let us know if they tell you.

Just as servicing companies change, owners also change. If you are lucky (good luck or bad luck, I'm not sure) your loan might even get bought up by good old Uncle Sam. If so, you probably have a better chance of negotiating with Uncle Sam if you need forbearance, than if you try to negotiate with Uncle Citigroup or Uncle Wells Fargo. - Tue Oct 7 2008, 22:40