Serhiy Onyshchuk / KW Marysville – Northwest WA Real Estate, Call 425.610.SOLD (7653)
My recent sale of a HUD home in Everett, WA has just been recorded.
You can imagine how happy my buyers were when finally the front door of their home was opened for them. (They don’t give your buyer keys for homes purchased from HUD. You have to install your own lock right away).
While HUD paperwork is different from regular MLS forms, it wasn’t much of a problem. Now, after HUD revamped the way they sell homes, the bidding process seems to be even simplier and the paperwork appears to be more straightforward than regular MLS forms.
All HUD home sales in Washington State are serviced by GBS escrow in Snohomish, WA. It looks like the revamped sales of HUD homes overwhelmed the only escrow company which services all HUD transaction in WA.
Similar to other people who left their reviews on GBS services, we had some troubles. The most prominent one was the delay of closing, which was no fault of the buyer. Granted, HUD waived the extension fee but it still messed up some buyer’s moving plans.
Personally, I felt like it was easier to get in touch with someone in the USDA office or the REO management company on my recent REO+USDA deal (which has been my most challenging transaction so far) than with someone in GBS, which is located right here in Snohomish, WA. Also, I’ve been getting way too many conflicting answers regarding the closing progress.
Anyway…we closed the sale. And that’s what matters!
There is some silver lining, though. First, GBS doesn’t charge buyers for their services (There’s no escrow fee to the buyer on the settlement statement!) Second, we’ve been told that they are hiring more people, so hopefully they’ll be able to handle the work more efficiently.
The bottomline. HUD homes? Bring them on! “We can do it!”
You need to know this before buying a SHORT SALE!
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May - 26 | 
You didn’t mention how long it took to close. My son has been under contract to buy a HUD home for months and still no actual closing date and little information on what is causing the delay. It has been 4 months.
Marcella,
While it wasn’t pleasant, this closing was delayed for only about a week, but I really had to push it…
GBS is way to slow and hud needs to find a new company to work with its been 2 months waiting for them to say lets sign ??????????????????????????
Agree. But don’t just wait… I found out that going out of my way helps. I call them regularly and ask how I can help to move things along.
Like, on my current transaction they told me a week ago that they are waiting for a confirmation from the management company that utilities were paid for.
I called the company. They said they paid the utilities and had already sent the confirmation to GBS. The latter, however, claimed they didn’t have anything.
So I called the city of Marysville, got the statement from them and sent it to GBS.
Calling them right after sending a fax/email also helps. Otherwise, that document seems to get lost among other papers they receive.
Good luck with your closing.
Be careful with the closing payouts. I just had to pay a $100 fee to the County Treasurer because they paid the property taxes late, and now I can’t get GBS on the phone to rectify the problem. There appears to be something wrong with their phone line – it doesn’t even ring through.
And as far as actually closing the transaction, our deal absolutely was not moving along. We finally gave up and started looking at other houses. Once they caught wind of that the house closed within about two days. Glad we finally got the house but I have never been through a more frustrating real estate transaction than this was.
@SCS
I’m sorry to hear of the troubles you’ve been having. GBS moved to Everett just a few weeks ago and their new phone number is 425-512-9553. Give them a call.
My personal experience has been that either they are improving or I’m learning more how to work with them. :) Anyway, my last transaction with them closed on time earlier this month, and I found them to be pretty helpful to speed the things along.
My experience is that the BANK that is CHASE is unable to complete the paperwork needed. They blame GBS for the problems but actually GBS is working hard to complete this. Having kicked back the completed paperwork to CHASE multiple times. I have been through many closings and this is the strangest one yet. 2 months and I have been asked for nothing more for my approval. Still not closed, but getting close….