Have you been going back and forth with your Lender trying to get your loan modified? Have you sent in all of your required financial documents for them to consider modifying your loan, such as:

• Pay stubs, bank statements, tax returns, income & expense statement, hardship letter and any other document that they have requested.

You might have even had to send the above documents several times as they sometimes do not reach the appropriate party. Now, after all the back and forth, your Lender indicates that you don't qualify for a loan modification. Now what? Is the next step foreclosure? HOLD ON....wait a minute.

If you've been trying to get a loan modification that doesn't work out as you so wanted to stay in your home yet your current financial distress simply won't allow you to stay in your home, there is another option that lessens the impact that a foreclosure can have on your well being.  Consider a Short Sale when the loan modification won't work.

Short Sales have been helping many individuals and families avoid foreclosure. What should you expect when you sell your home as a Short Sale? Let's go over some things that you may encounter and some things that you want to encounter:

1. You'll want to work with a professional Real Estate Agent who specializes in Short Sales. This can make all the difference in a successful closing. Ask questions of who you hire to sell your home. Make sure they know their stuff. How many Short Sales have they closed? How many active Short Sale listings do they have?
2. Your cooperation with your Realtor is critical. When they ask for documentation make sure that you promptly respond.
3. It can be a lengthy process. A critical component in the Short Sale transaction is that all parties communicate on an ongoing basis particularly with the Buyer. Buyers often lose their patience because nobody tells them what is going on.  If they're in the know on the progress they'll be less likely to cancel the sale. When your Realtor speaks with the Buyer's Agent, your Realtor will need to insist that all of the information be relayed to the Buyer.
4. Even if you have a pending foreclosure having been served with papers, you have time to stop foreclosure. I've been able to stop a foreclosure that had a sale date established at the court house steps when an offer was received just a few weeks before. So don't ever think you don't have time. If you have someone on your side fighting for you, we can fight up to just days before the auction sale date. Never lose hope.
5. Simplified, your Lender(s) will review your financials, the Buyers offer and an appraisal that they have completed to determine whether they will approve the sale.
6. Some Buyers will cancel their interest in buying your home and your Realtor will have to find a new Buyer. Unfortunately, this is a casualty of Short Sales when Buyers simply throw in the towel, but don't you throw in the towel.  Remember as I said above, Never lose hope.
7. Expect the possibilities of counter offers to go back and forth between your Lender(s) and the Buyer. Counter offers are not always a given as often your Lender(s) will accept the Buyer's original offer.
8. Your goal is to have your Lender(s) to approve the sale.  Again to reach this goal, #1 plays a very important role.
9. Once written approval is received, the Buyers will typically have 30 days to gain their financing and close, unless of course if your offer is a cash offer you won't have to worry about the financing, always nice.
10. You will now need to plan for your move. Hopefully, you will have saved for the cost of making the move to your new home and to your new Chapter in your life. You don't have to be fearful of the change as better days are likely ahead. Again, please Never lose hope.

"Once you choose hope, anything's possible" ... Christopher Reeve

"You've gotta have hope.  Without hope life is meaningless.  Without hope life is meaning less and less" ... Author Unknown

"Hope is grief's best music" ... Author Unknown

"Some see a hopeless end, while others see an endless hope" ... Author Unknown

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope" ... Martin Luther King Jr.

I've been working with a young family who like so many have come across tough times unable to make ends meet to make their mortgage payment.  We listed their home for sale and pretty quick we received an offer on their home as their home is lovely. It was a Short Sale and I submitted the Short Sale package to their Lender, Bank of America, at the end of August and on October 27th received written approval from them. I was very pleased with the prompt approval from BOA! I had to go back and forth with BOA to gain approval but no problem as that is part of what I do as being a Realtor who specializes in Short Sales here in South Florida. I go back and forth until I get an approval.  

The point of this post however, is that when I called the Seller and told her that her Short Sale was approved, she cried. And.....to top it off it was her Birthday! Goosebumps ran up and down my arms. She said to me that this is probably the best birthday present that she can remember and it was cause for a celebration.

I know there is a lot of talk that a Short Sale being approved really isn't time for a celebration yet Sellers who have experienced such hardship and choose to view it as a positive outcome really can celebrate. So I guess you'd say that they're viewing their situation as being thankful, that they can now move forward looking forward to much brighter days. So yes, a Short Sale can be celebrated as my homeowner did that day.  They have a lot to be thankful for and will survive. After all, there are a lot of people who have things much worse to contend with.

Do you see BPO's as a grand production? Get as many as you can and handle them any way you can..even if it means to hire an unlicensed Agent to go and shoot the interior photos. Hmm, is that in the instructions from the Lender for the BPO? Some might argue that this is being quite efficient and some might argue this is being inept? What say you?

I received a call today for a BPO to be completed on one of my Short Sale Listings. 

 When I receive I call I always like to find out as much as I can about the Agent doing the BPO, don't you? Well, I come to find out that the Agent doing the photos for the BPO isn't even an Agent. She was hired by an Agent to go to the property and take photos for the Agent who lives an hour away from the subject property. Insane. This is one BPO that I"m sure I'll have to keep on top of and be prepared to unleash an assault if the value comes back totallly out of whack!

Why don't Lenders find out who are completing their BPO's? When do we say enough is enough? Why is so much of what we do surrounded by greed? Can we ever have too much?!

A virtue is a character trait or quality valued as being good

(as defined by Wikepedia)

How important is this? Does it really matter? I'd say sure it does. Think about it. Does it mean perfection? No, who is perfect? Yet we certainly can try to do the right thing. What is the right thing?

What are your virtues to live by. Everybody seems to have virtues to live by.  Have you ever questioned the virtues that some live by? Or for that matter, those that you live by?  Consider a few of these virtues as defined by Wikepedia:

Honesty: Honesty is speaking truth and creating trust in minds of others. The quality or condition of being honest; integrity. Truthfulness; sincerity.

• How can this trait make a real difference in your Real Estate business? How many more customers will want to do business with you if you're honest with them? Trust is a must in Real Estate as in life.

Generosity: Generosity is the habit of giving without coercion. Generosity can also be spending time, money, or labour, for others, without being rewarded in return. Consider anothers needs instead of your own.

• We're taught that it is better to give than receive. When you're feeling like you have a mountain to climb try giving of yourself.

Patience: Patience is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties

• Wow, how prevalent is the need for this today? Rather during these tough economic times or while negotiating that ongoing Short Sale.

        Update to Post: Alexander Harb of Active Rain and the Group Christianity and Real Estate thought that it would be a good idea to include a Bible verse that includes a virtue that I touched on here. I particularly like this one:

      "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law" Galatians 5:22-23, NIV

What we believe to be the right thing can vary from one person to another. Sometimes when we lose our patience, consider not being totally honest or keeping fortunes all to ourselves, we definitely lose our way. When you wake up again, dust yourself off, you'll feel better being back on track. I know there are times that I've gotten off track and getting back on track brings a greater sense of peace. Is it peace that we seek? I always pray for peace....as there's nothing like it!

What happens when you receive a Buyer's offer for a home listed as a Short Sale and initially the Lender says "NO"? If I'm representing that Seller, the offer that has been submitted is an offer that I can support, believe in and I will fight for its approval. This case story has topped my experiences of drama for a distressed Sellers property here in South Florida. And the fight goes way beyond that first "No".

 Grab a seat and let me tell you the story.

1st Buyer's offer:

This first offer submitted was rejected by the Lender. I went back to the Lender with my analysis of why they should accept the Buyer's offer and finally I got them to see it my way. Great, I said. Oh, the fun was just beginning. This was a Buyer who wanted everything her way, no give and take through the whole process.  The closing was scheduled and a walk through was performed.  At the walk through the Buyer determined that there was some furniture left behind and it must be removed by tomorrow as the closing was scheduled for the following day. . A day that the Seller had tried to get them to extend by two weeks to allow for her to have more time to get out her being a distressed widowed woman. The Buyer said, absolutely not..."....I want in the house on such and such date...." Okay now what? They demanded that the furniture be removed. The furniture had to be out by the next day. Well, I got my husband and son to agree to come with me to move the furniture out to curbside. We thought it was going to be an easy job...just move some furniture out of the house. Not this furniture. It was huge and couldn't be carried through the front door.  My husband had to actually tear it apart with a hammer breaking and prying the wood and glass apart. What a job! A few hours later we were done, went home and I looked forward to a closing in a few days or so I thought. 

Yes, you guessed it, the closing never happened. The Buyer's financing fell through at the last moment. In fact, the Seller was rewarded the Buyer's deposit for being in default of the contract. In fact, the request to cut the check has just been forwarded to the Title company this week.

2nd Buyer's offer:

 Oh, finally a new Buyer...yes, let's close. New offer approved by Lender  All went well until we got to the inspection and the Buyer wasn't willing to pay for what was necessary with the needed repairs. Good bye Buyer.

3rd Buyer's offer:

  I'm sure this Buyer will follow through. New reduced offering price approved by Lender. Again, we got to the inspection and the excess repairs ultimately scared this Buyer too.

4th Buyer's offer:

By now, I"m really getting tired and thinking about giving up. But then I think, how could I give up on my Seller who's counting on me, who has faith in me. So I don't give up. I try again.  A lot of time has lapsed by now, you can imagine. New increased offering price approved by Lender.  This Buyer came up against the same situation as the other Buyers did; that of needed repairs.  The difference? This Buyer's business was qualified to make the repairs himself and wasn't concerned at all with the needed repairs and said, "....sure I'll make the repairs...."  This was to be done before closing as this was a FHA financing. What needed to be done?:

• algae filled pool needed to be cleaned and functioning
• wood rot on exterior of home needed repair

The Buyers made repairs but oh no, now the closing date was nearing as was the Auction sale date. The Lender wasn't ready and expressed doubt in being able to close. You've got to be kidding. HELP ME! 

Quickly, I suggested to the Buyer's Agent that they find a new Lender and referred them to a Mortgage Broker that had saved the day for me on a Short Sale from a few months ago when a Buyer's Agent and their Buyer couldn't get approval at the last moment and went to this new efficient Mortgage Broker.

Now back to the Lender. I expressed I needed two more weeks to get the Buyer closed. "...NO..." was their response. This file had been postponed through all of these Buyers and they weren't going to budge another day. We were three days from the Auction Sale date. And back and forth and they weren't budging saying that they're going to foreclose...forget the Short Sale.

Here it comes again, that gnawing feeling of giving up and throwing in the towel.  No, I just can't do it....we're so close.  Back and forth conversations via email with the VP of loss mitigation.  We're now at the day before the Auction Sale date,

• "....Okay, if the Buyers deposit a non-refundable deposit of $4000 to us we'll delay the Auction sale date and extend closing until Sept 30th.
•  I got them down to accept $2000. The Buyer wired the money. This Buyer wanted that house! If they closed the $2000 went towards home. If they couldn't get approved, they'd lose the money.
• The new miracle worker Mortgage Broker got Buyers approved to close, having completed it all in just two weeks
• And we closed this past Monday.
• Yes, you heard me....WE CLOSED!

So the next time someone asks you When do you quit trying on a Short Sale? Tell 'em....we don't!

It's everywhere you look, this pricing strategy. It's guaranteed to send your homeowner right into the tailspin of foreclosure; List a property and freeze the price.

I see it all the time whether I'm working with Sellers or Buyers. How are Buyers and Sellers affected:

• It can be a great thing if I'm looking for Buyers who want to purchase a fabulous new home as this property whose price hasn't been touched is probably overpriced thereby overlooked by most Buyers and allows my Buyer to uncover it. Yet, it hurts the Seller of this property as a Buyer who could be buying the home if it was priced correctly, reduced that is, will never stumble across it
• It can be tragic for a distressed Seller who needs to sell their home.

As discussed here before by many who would agree, we have Listing Agents listing properties simply to get a listing and then forgetting about it. Set a price and basically walk away from any chances of success. Why would anyone want a listing just to have a listing? That will get you as the Listing Agent absolutely nowhere; no respect and no livelihood. So why do it then? It befuddles me.

However, Agents lack of concern for these distressed Sellers is truly alarming in today's real estate market when listing a Short Sale property. It is more than simply not getting a home sold because it isn't priced accurately, it's adding to a homeowners stress by forcing them into foreclosure. Not something to ever be taken so casually by so many that do.

I've run across listings for Short Sales that haven't been reduced for months. Who taught these Agents this strategy? It's criminal. That is just a lawsuit waiting to happen. How would you say that this is putting the Sellers interests in mind when you service them?

The pricing on Short Sales cannot sit at one set price. I've seen Agents who even have listed a Short Sale priced at what the Seller needs to cover his mortgage- oh my gosh! That is just ignorance.

If you take on something new, like a Short Sale, either set out to learn what you should do or refer it out to someone who has taken the initiative to learn the right way to conduct an ethical business. After all isn't earning a referral fee better than no closing or better yet the fine or criminal suit you'll be slapped with for negligence? Wake up!