Dear Mr Caruso,
I'm hoping Bank of America revise the business practices of the Countrywide HOPE unit to better limit BofA losses.
Weeks and sometimes months of delays in review of short sales and a labyrinthine phone system at Countrywide cause unnecessary foreclosures.
Additionally, Landsafe, an affiliated company of Countrywide seems to apply different criteria for appraisals depending on whether the appraisal is a short sale or a purchase. We have seen Landsafe appraisals run much higher for short sales than for model match Countrywide bank owned properties in the same housing tract. This forces a short sale to foreclosure and a much larger loss to the investor.

For those affected:
A Short Sale should only be taken as an option when the alternative is Foreclosure/Trustee Sale.

The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 eliminates the tax liability for qualified home owners. Investors are handled differently. Talk to a good CPA.

In a loan default situation, Foreclosure is by far the worst choice for a home owner, and a good specialist in short sales can advise home owners of the alternatives and ramifications.

We are ShortSaleAdvocates.com and we help people all over Southern California get out from under their house. Be sure to work only with licensed Realtors who make short sales their primary business and are not fronting an investor. Do not ever work with anybody that wants you to sign over title or wants you to move out during the negotiations!

Drop by the web site, or call 800-935-7887 for info. The info is always free, but may be very valuable to you or a friend.