Jingle Bells Jingle Bells . . . tiss the season to be jolly . . . so here is some good news for the holiday season . . .
Short Sale Service sets record in December! With a few days still to go in the month, the Short Sale Service has set an all time record in successfully obtained short sale volume. It’s more evidence that banks (1) want to do short sales, and (2) the end of the year is always a strong time with lenders pushing a high volume of files off their desk before the close of the year.
At the same time Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Citigroup, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo have announced they will suspend foreclosure actions during the holidays. The Bank of America actions apply to their investment portfolio loans and those which they service where investors agree with the moratorium.
Is the moratorium a huge big deal for short sales? I don’t think so . . . people (even at the banks and foreclosure law firms) take vacations and many businesses generally slow down during the holidays anyway. The holidays will pass and the banks will ramp up their foreclosure machines in January.
However, in the meantime it’s good PR for the banks, may give the loss mitigation departments some time to move some more shorts sales as we’ve seen by our record month at the Service, and also give some borrowers a little peace of mind for the holidays . . . and that’s a good thing for everyone.
