Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
Short sales are on the rise. Yesterday I did a post on an investor blog on short sales in which I cited stats showing short sales in the first quarter of 2009 were up over 200% from a year ago.
While the increase in short sales has created a market niche for many real estate agents they have also created some problems. The most frequent of which for agents has been the lender making a reduction in the commission a condition of the sale.
If you have been caught in this situation then help is here! Fannie Mae, which owns or guarantees the lions-share of home mortgages, just reconfirmed to NAR it’s short sale commission policy and has established a process for REALTORS(R) to follow if issues arise.
Fannie Mae‘s policy prohibits loan servicers from negotiating commission on short sales below the amount negotiated by the listing agent, unless the commission exceeds 6%. To determine if your seller’s loan is owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae use this website: www.fanniemae.com/loanlookup or you can call 1-800-7FANNIE.
If you run into a situation whereby the loan servicer is unaware of this policy or disagrees with this policy you should provide a copy of Fannie Mae’s announcement 09-03to them. If you cannot resolve the dispute with the servicer you should contact Fannie Mae directly at 1-800-7FANNIE or by email at Resource_center@FannieMae.Com.
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Sir, what if the lender agrees to the 6% but the approval letter does not allow enough time for closing based upon the HUD tax calculation. Meaning the HUD tax calculation is through a specific date but the closing is beyond that date. The lender’s approval only provides for a dollar amount up to the specific date on the HUD but due to the long period of time the lender took to approve the short sale the HUD is out of date. Do the agents split the tax difference if the lender will not adjust the HUD? The short sale loan is not a Fannie Mae loan.