My desire to know the very personal financial information for my clients is non-existent; however, in the circumstance of a short sale - please don't shoot the messenger.
Every time I work with folks who are going through the short sale process, there is a tremendous amount of angst. From the type of information, the volume of information, the means by which the banks require the information, it's just not fun for anyone.
WHY do you have to provide the bank all this information (and oh, by the way, if you are self-employed, all of the same information must be profferred also on the business side). Well, at this stage - assuming this is a short sale - in some ways you are actually re-qualifying for the loan again and instead of trying to support a purchase at the original price - which is now way out of whack - you are trying to demonstrate that not only can you not afford this house but there is very little, if any, money to pay back the difference. If you never had to provide the last two years of tax returns, two months of bank statements, two months of paystubs, personal financial statements, you were lucky and unfortunately, now is your time.
And why am I, ONLY your Realtor,asking for all of this? Oh boy, where do I begin? The world of real estate has dramatically expanded from knowing a little contract law, a little about home improvements and inspections, a little about style of homes, a little about financing, a little about how to calculate return on investment...hey, I guess I did know about more than I thought! Then along come the short sales and we get stuck in the middle of the banking/legal/financial morass. But, I digress.
The bottom line is that this situation has brought genuine pain and distress to millions of people. Our area has not been immune. For people who have lost jobs, to people whose hours have been cut dramatically, the situation they find themselves in is often not of their own making.
To make matters worse, folks used to have a relationship with their local banker and could try to work out some sort of an arrangement with a live person. Those days are long gone so what to do?
Basically, like most unpleasant things, grit your teeth and bear it. Your Realtor, or attorney, or tax person is trying to get you through this and onto the next aspect of your life. Think of it as a way to put your financial home in order.
So true, "Folks used to have a relationship with their local banker and could try to work out some sort of arrangement with a live person". Good post!
Deven - and would have most likely solved so many of the difficulties that we're in. Back in the 'olden days' when I worked at a bank that gave loans to farmers, when there was bad weather and a poor crop, the farmer came into the bank and that installment loan on the harvestore was worked out - the bank didn't want that big blue silo anyway - then when the next year's crop was great, the payments increased, the farmer was happy, the banker's bottom line recovered and the relationship was cemented, and oh by the way, the farmer recommended the bank to other farmers, AND when he bought his car, tractor, etc. lo and behold can you imagine where he went. Relationships...........