Is your house about to devour you? Read more to find out about the Texas short sale process.

What is a Texas Short Sale?

Completing a Texas Short Sale is one of the most difficult transactions in all of Texas real estate.  It is important to know that the company and TEAM you hire to complete this process for you have expertise in this area.

We find it beneficial to make sure our clients know what is going to happen throughout the process.

Below are the most common questions that have been asked by our clients.  If you are speaking with others and they can't answer the questions below, we recommend seeking another opinion.

What is a Short Sale?

A short sale in real estate is selling a property for less than is owned on the property.  For example:

Loan Amount:  $250,000
Market Value of Real Estate:  $200,000

In the above example, the property is upside down a minimum of $50,000.  In order to get the bank to accept an offer at $250,000, a team of experts who specialize in negotiations with banks and marketing short sale properties to the real estate community are needed. 

 Common Questions

• How long does it take to complete a short sale?
  • Banks can take up to 60 days to give an official approval of an offer once it is received.  This process can be improved by communication with the bank by your representation.  Open and consistent communication is what improves the process.
  • Ensuring that the required paperwork by the bank is correctly filled out increases acceptance by over 45%.  Some banks will destroy an application that is even off by one item.  Our team ensures that your paperwork is completely filled out the first time so you have the greatest chance at acceptance.
    
    
• How long do I have until I have to move out?
  • The bank is required to let you know when they have filed the notice of default with the county recorders office for the county you are in.  The majority of banks do this after you have become 90 days late on your mortgage or 3 consecutive mortgage payments.  From this time the earliest a sale date can be set is 90 days from that date.  So you may not have to move out until days after you have missed your third payment.
    
    
• What are the consequences of doing a short sale?
  • Completing a successful short sale will mean that you will not have a foreclosure reported on your credit.  This will also mean that on lending applications where it asks if you have had a property foreclosed upon you will be able to answer, 'no'.  This is one of the single best consequences of doing a short sale.  By requesting a short sale with your lender or having a team such as us do this work for you, the number of calls you receive will be reduced by over 50%.
    
    
• What happens if it doesn't work?
  • If your property does not sell as a short sale, it may end up being foreclosed upon by the bank.
  • It is of the utmost importance to get the bank an offer to review so that they can decide how they can best help you and to accept the offer you have received.  It is for this reason that you need to have a real estate team who specializes in short sales present to the bank on your behalf.
    
    
• What kind of information will the bank as for?
  •  Each bank has their own separate set of forms that they can ask to be filled out.  In fact, if you have two loans, the amount of information can be different between both banks.  The types of information that can be asked for as follows:
    • Signed and dated hardship letter
    • Copies of last 60 days pay stubs
    • Copies of P&L statements (if you are self-employed)
    • Completed financial worksheet  - signed and dated
    • Copies of last two years tax returns
    • Copies of last 60 days bank statements
    • Copy of investment account statements
    • Copy of Listing Agreement
    • Estimated net sheet (Preliminary HUD-1)
    • Identification of liens on the property
      
      
  • We will guide you through all of the requirements regardless of which bank and which form that is required.

Let the BOB KORY TEAM help you with your short sale questions or any real estate questions!

The Bob Kory Team

Full Service REALTOR, Property Management Service, and Leaseing in Katy/West Houston

281-394-4608 Direct Line

www.bobkoryhomes.com