Consumer complaint received 2020-10-11
Company: SELECT PORTFOLIO SERVICING, INC.
State: MA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
I have been trying to work with SPS since XX/XX/XXXX to sell my home. SPS exclaims they sent me approval to complete a short sale in XXXX, which I never received and therefore never listed my home, and if I did receive it, no one from SPS called to explain the process to me. I did receive approval to list my property and get an offer starting XX/XX/XXXX. The program allowed me to list my property, get an offer and I had to CLOSE by XX/XX/XXXX. SPS set an unrealistic timeframe for me to list and sell my property. On XX/XX/XXXX they shut down my review and have stipulated I no longer have a right to sell my property. Mynegotiator said short sales are not SHORT in time. Most well run short sales take an average of 2-3 months to list and get under contract, another 90-120 days for a lender to review the offer, perform a valuation on a property, and then potentially issue approval which could take another 30 days and Select Portfolio Servicing is NO exception to the above. She ran  ascan of ALL SALES in XXXX county. My property is located in XXXX County. She ran it for all sales from XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. There were XXXX. She ran a price range of XXXX XXXX. 
The average time on these sales from OFFER UNTIL CLOSING was 100 days. Out of ALL of these sales only ONE was a short sale. This ONE short sale took 179 from listing until closing. This shows that SPS who is a servicer of default mortgages, sets UNREALISTIC expectations on sellers by giving them only 75 days to list and sell a short sale/default property. By the time I get an offer within a reasonable range, she explained that typically the value expires and more time is tacked on the short sale, and then typically a value dispute must be done. Nothing about a short sale is short on time. Any servicer of default mortgages should know this. Two and months from listing until closing would only happen if you fire sale priced a property and the lender allowed a lower than average sales price which also is not the norm. SPS is completely unrealistic when setting this time frame for me especially when I truly didnt understand the process, nor did anyone from SPS call to explain it to me. I finally  got an offer that was submitted to SPS on XX/XX/XXXX, that included not only the short sale documents but the Offer and HUD. SPS agreed to postponing the foreclosure date of XX/XX/XXXX further to XX/XX/XXXX. While this is great news, my negotiator continued to follow up with the Short Sale department in SPS to see exactly where the short sale review was. After not receiving any communication from the Short sale department, she escalated further to the Ombudsman department for help. Ombudsman dept, in turn, informed us that the short sale was no longer an option because the file was reviewed for a previous short sale back in XXXX and did not receive an offer. My negotiator has worked with SPS on many short sales in the past 6 months alone, not to mention years, and said that they never finished a short sale from beginning to end in the span of 75 days with them. This is not without trying. She explained that the process of getting all documents, getting an offer in, ordering a value, going into a value dispute review ( which almost always happens ), counter offer phase, acceptance and issuance of the approval letter never happens within 90 days. The 90 day timeline is just not realistic and furthermore, I was never informed in the letter that I could only have one try to get a short sale option done. No one from SPS who valued the property if there was a value in XXXX, knew that there was a failed septic on site on my site. I do not have the money to cure this issue. My septic issue will cost any buyer 50-60K to cure, so the current buyers offer price is exceptional considering the other deferred maintenance on the property. I wish the short sale be re-reviewed considering the above. SPS is setting unrealistic expectations for me tocomplete a sale which is deceptive. Fast forward SPS is so slow, to review files, I have now been denied TWICE to be reviewed for a short sale. Last  year in XXXX, I had a short sale submitted XX/XX/XXXX after my home had been on the market since XXXX. SPS only did an XXXX valuation, and I have septic issues so no drive by valuator is going to know that it will cost 50-60K to potentially fix, so the value came in super high. After arguing with SPS multiple times to get an interior, they refused and said that I was ineligible for a short sale. The buyer  submitted a full price offer on XX/XX/XXXX to meet what SPS wanted. This was BEFORE CORONA HIT. It took from XX/XX/XXXX until XX/XX/XXXX to get an approval. It was months of calling into sps to see what the hold ups were. HAD SPS reviewed my sale in an appropriate time frame and approved my sale in XXXX or XXXX, the buyer would have closed and I wouldn't be in this mess. The buyer dropped out due to concerns of the Corona virus and losing his income so I had to put the property back on market. Finally got an offer and it was submitted XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX XXXX in Ombudsmans office said they'd order an interior. 2 days later I was denied again stating over the phone there had been TOO MANY REVIEWS. There has only been TWO offers so I can't imagine how this is too many reviews. My house needs a considerable amount of work, and because SPS is sooooo slow to review information, I am being  penalized. I'm not sure how there have been so many short sale reveiws when I've only had two offers on the property. I would like SPS to review this current offer and order an interior valuation.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation