The number of filings of Notice of Defaults for September (first step in the foreclosure process) continued a second month of decline from August even though the quarterly graph shows a turn upward.

The spread between the blue line and the green line always intrigues me. The green line represents completed foreclosures – over 200 homes a month.

I just don’t understand why homeowners – who know they can’t afford to keep their home – allow their lender to foreclose when they could be in control of the process and do a US Treasury HAFA short sale – and get $3,000 at close of escrow!

• 12 month graph

• Quarterly graph ending in Q3

A puzzle! It seems like every short sale has a twist of some sort or another, but this one was bigger than most.

This home in Camarillo had a 2nd Deed of Trust from Bank of America that had been written off (charged off) 3 years ago according to one source, but this year varied from one department to another! In the byzantine world of Bank of America with its 100,000 workers, no one could figure out which department or entity within the bank “owned” the note.

Fortunately, Leslie has an inside person high in B of A that “assigned” responsibility to an entity in Florida and they did the necessary paperwork for this deal to close.

But to show how frustrating dealing with big lenders can be, Leslie had also contacted the escalation people at HAMP (they track these issues), and yesterday (coincidentally!) Leslie’s contact called to say he couldn’t get anyone at B of A to accept responsibility for this note! They both just laughed when Leslie said the deal just closed.

It’s quite like the letter Leslie got from Chase earlier this month about a short sale she closed earlier this summer…

I’ve finished the 4 wings (finally) and built stanchions that allow me to turn the wings for easier access in varnishing.

Trying to figure out which was most efficient, brushing or spraying, I ended up deciding to spray the wings.

Here’s what spraying on the varnish looks like!

Representing the buyers, Don recently closed a 7.5 acre industrial site in Santa Paula that was owned by First California Bank. He was instrumental in locating the bank owned property, finding the buyers and negotiating the transaction.

I recently got the attached letter from Chase on a short sale transaction I closed last summer. Hmmm…now you know why we just “love” short sales!