And Neither Have We

Well, the bigoted Asset Manager for the home we have in North Birmingham (the one where the bank called the second mortgage due) has gotten back to us about our super-awesome short sale offer. As you may recall, we have someone willing to pay $58,000 for our home.

Unfortunately, what the bank had to say was they they will only do a short sale if I agree to give them close to $30,000 upfront and sign a promissory note for the remainder. Now for those of you confused on what a short sale happens to be, it is when the bank agrees to take an amount less than the amount owed because the value on the property is lower than the amount owed.

So, asking us to pay the difference in cash and a promissory note defies the entire purpose of the short sale in the first place. In fact, before we even started this process  I spoke with the Asset Manager to verify we were on the same page. My first clue there might have been an issue is when he said last April, "I just pulled up your credit. You are never going to convince the bank with credit like yours that you can't pay." I should have gone with my gut. However, I do recall speaking with Mr. Asset Manager at the time who assured me in no way did the bank want a foreclosure. After all, then they have to sell it.

And now, here we are. Today I showed the Asset Manager's e-mail to all the major players. Kirby assures me they are bluffing and will cave. When I first got Legal Owl involved today, she suggested I play along to buy some time. But after more billable hours deliberation, we decided to just tell the bank to go ahead and foreclose. Our credit is now crap anyway. We don't have the money and it won't change if I sign a promissory note or not. And frankly, I don't want to promise to pay more money that I can't necessarily follow up on. So Legal Owl wrote a lengthy missive that boiled down to "Go ahead and deny this, I've got nothing to loose." I signed off on it and sent it on is as my own.

Not three minutes later the Asset Manager wrote back that I really needed to reconsider. It will wreck my credit (so will a short sale), I need to talk to an accountant because there are some tax implications (done) and a string of other things that sound like what you might tell a small child when you want them to do something they really don't need to do. The gist was I was making a grave mistake by not agreeing to give them money upfront and pay the rest later. He wrote a good letter until the end when threw this gem at me,

"We could foreclose and that would probably resolve the issues above. Believe it or not,  I have never done a deed in lieu. I am not sure how to handle that."

Yep. That's the crux right there. He doesn't know what to do next. Guess what? That makes two of us.