Under normal circumstances, I would be shocked and appalled by this gross negligence and incompetence. But knowing it’s Bank of America, I’m not surprised. Having endured several listings and short sales where B of A was the holder of the note(s), I have first hand knowledge of how they operate , which is to say, on another planet. If there is a more incompetent bank in this world I would be hard pressed to find it.

No, I do not think they have a cunning strategy for slowing down the disposal of their distressed portfolio. These guys can’t even find the bathroom in their own offices.

Yet, as screwed up as these guys are, they are still making boatloads of money, which has me seriously thinking of starting a bank. Sometimes life is just not fair.

I endured a grueling 4 month escrow with BofA.Painful experience.

Mike: I can one up you on that escrow, unfortunately. I just closed a B of A short sale last Friday(as the listing agent) where the first offer was submitted last June 15 and was promptly lost. Except that you don’t know it’s lost because the recording on their short sale “Hot Line” says – “Do not call us as this will result in further delays to processing your file!” After realizing they lost the offer, I submitted it again and they promptly lost it, again. Then the loss mitigator they finally assigned was subsequently replaced by another loss mitigator. Since I never heard from the first loss mitigator this was quite a surprise. Then the buyer bailed and was replaced by buyer #2 who then bailed after two more months of B of A incompetence. Finally, buyer #3 came in and was successful. I keep asking myself how B of A can be this incompetent and still be making so much money, but they do. I am definitely in the wrong biz.

I was just in another san diego community blogging http://www.sandiegotalk.net I dont think this housing mess is over. There are more foreclosures forecasted.

Vince – You are correct. We are not out of the woods on housing market stress, particularly in the higher price ranges. We have at least another two years to go in San Diego to flush through these homes. The smarter banks are starting to see the benefit of short sales over foreclosures. The really smart ones will take lead in the process of pre-approved short sales which, to this point, has not yet happened. It makes too much sense.