Are you a Bank of America employee looking to purchase a home? Better make sure that you are not purchasing a BofA distressed property...

Got an email from Bank of America today regarding its policy for the sale of Bank of America short sale, REO/foreclosed properties to Bank of America employees. Basically, they are now prohibiting BofA employees and their immediate family from the purchase of any of its distressed properties.

This is consistent with the short sale policies of other large national mortgage servicers. I encountered this with a Wells Fargo short sale listing of mine last year...we received an offer from a buyer who turned out to be a Wells Fargo employee, and that person was not able to purchase the house due to their affiliation with Wells Fargo. Luckily we found another buyer who was able to complete the purchase.

Under the BofA's policy, "bank associates and members of their households may not purchase bank REOs, short sales and foreclosures. Members of the household include spouses, domestic partners, dependent children who live with the bank associate, or any other person who derives his or her primary means of financial support from the bank associate (household members)."

Now, when submitting a short sale offer to Bank of America, listing agents must also include the "Buyer's Acknowledgement and Disclosure" to swear that the buyer(s) is not a Bank of America employee.

I will add it to the growing stack of paperwork...