Waaaa Mooooo

In the month of June 2007, Rosa came in to see us regarding her home in Weston. She had to relocate to Palm Beach due to her job. She listed her property in Weston for sale and purchased a new home in Palm Beach. The property was on the market for over one year and received no offers. During this time, Rosa was paying for both mortgages, exhausting her savings account so she decided to list the Weston property for rent. By the time she was able to get a renter, she had fallen behind on two (2) mortgage payments totaling $5,500. With the deposit from the renter, Rosa called the bank and advised them she had $4,500 to send them and would send the remainder of $1,000 within a month.
The representative at WAMU advised her that nothing was acceptable other than full payment, and that partial payment is not an option. With WAMU not willing to work with her, Rosa let go of the interested renter. She could not find it in her heart and good conscience to rent to a family and then let the house go into foreclosure.
In an effort to help Rosa, we listed the property as a Short Sale and started the negotiation process. Rosa was unable to make payments on both mortgages and she owed a lot more than the appraised value of the property.
On August 11, 2007 we received an offer on the property for $240,000 and submitted the Short Sale package to the bank. Between August 15th and September 30th, 2007 we made (19) calls to WAMU to inquire about the status of the file. To our disbelief a negotiator had not yet been assigned to the file. Finally on October 1st, 2007 we were told that a negotiator had been assigned but the appraisal that had been ordered on the property (on September 25) was not back yet. Fifteen (15) calls were made between October 1st and November 14th, 2007 as we kept checking in with WAMU on the appraisal status. It finally came back and WAMU countered for the appraised value of $330,000. Once again WAMU had no sense of urgency and three (3) months later, we lost the buyer. We never had a chance to counter our buyer’s offer because after three (3) months and with all the houses on the current market at “bargain” prices the buyer was frustrated and simply walked away not wanting to wait on WAMU’s slow response to their Short Sale offer.
All of this could have been avoided back in May 2007 when WAMU had the chance to take Rosa’s $4,500 and work out a repayment plan that would include the $1000 difference. Unfortunately WAMU’s protocol strictly prohibited any flexibility in assisting this customer when it came to working out a repayment plan. If WAMU had been willing to work with Rosa she would have been able to reinstate the mortgage with the new tenant and at the same time WAMU would still be getting paid on the original loan of $380,000. Now WAMU will most likely have to settle for an offer of $280,000 which is what the properties are selling for currently in this area or foreclose on the property altogether.
So WAMU we ask you, by not accepting an offer to reinstate a mortgage that was off by a mere $1000.00 you would rather settle with a foreclosed non performing asset now worth a whopping $100,000.00 less in value?
SHAME ON YOU WAMU FOR NOT BEING PROACTIVE, FLEXABLE AND UNDERSTANDING WHEN ASSISTING YOUR CUSTOMERS IN THESE TRYING TIMES! AND, AS ONE OF THE LARGEST LENDERS IN THE COUNTRY, FOR NOT TAKING A LEADERSHIP ROLE AND SETTING AN EXAMPLE FOR THE OTHER LENDING INSTITUTIONS!