A short sale is a sale of real estate in which the proceeds from the sale fall short of the balance owed on a loan secured by the property sold.
In a short sale, the bank or mortgage lender agrees to discount a loan balance due to an economic or financial hardship on the part of the mortgagor. This negotiation is all done through communication with a bank's loss mitigation or workout department. The home owner/debtor sells the mortgaged property for less than the outstanding balance of the loan, and turns over the proceeds of the sale to the lender, sometimes (but not always) in full satisfaction of the debt. In such instances, the lender would have the right to approve or disapprove of a proposed sale. Extenuating circumstances influence whether or not banks will discount a loan balance. These circumstances are usually related to the current real estate market and the borrower's financial situation.
A short sale typically is executed to prevent a home foreclosure, but the decision to proceed with a short sale is predicated on the most economic way for the bank to recover the amount owed on the property. Often a bank will allow a short sale if they believe that it will result in a smaller financial loss than foreclosing as there are carrying costs that are associated with a foreclosure. A bank will typically determine the amount of equity (or lack of), by determining the probable selling price from a Broker Price Opinion BPO (also known as a Broker Opinion of Value (BOV)) or through a valuation of an appraisal. For the home owner, advantages include avoidance of a foreclosure on their credit history and partial control of the monetary deficiency. A short sale is typically faster and less expensive for the lender than a foreclosure. In short, a short sale is nothing more than negotiating with lien holders a payoff for less than what they are owed, or rather a sale of a debt, generally on a piece of real estate, short of the full debt amount.
If you are looking for that great opportunity to buy an affordable home in an AWESOME place like the DFW area, then you need to GET HERE AS FAST AS YOU CAN! My short sale listings are not lasting on the market for more than 15-30 days MAX! Buyers are buying them up sooooooooooo fast! That $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers is definitely bringing the buyers. Also, just in case you don't know, if you haven't owned a home in 3 years, you may qualify for it, as well.
I have developed some forms that I would be happy to share with any Realtor who is interested. I believe in systems so I developed 3 forms which I either send as a pre-listing email or take with me when I go to the listing appointment. It is very helpful to the sellers and to me, as well.
Absolutely not!! I am simply the messenger and will relay the request to my client but I WILL NOT ADVISE THEM TO SIGN IT as was suggested to me this last week by a lovely little negotiator with CW. I won't advise them not to sign it, either. I could not believe my ears! She actually told me that if I WANTED TO GET PAID, I should be very positive with my clients and convince them to sign an unsecured promissory note for $6,000 since she thought they could afford it. She also suggested that if I did not convince them to do it she would decline the sale even though her cost vs. benefit analysis on the file showed that the loss to CW to decline the sale would only be $300. Now, they may be doin' some new math down there at CW but that sounds to me like um a pretty good deal for good old CW. So, I relayed the request to my clients and they respectfully declined to sign a promissory note, I had them prepare and sign a letter stating that their current financial situation did not allow them to take on any additional debt and that one of the parties was almost certainly about to get laid off from their job and I had them provide me with an updated financial worksheet (i.e., expenses, income, debt, etc.) and submitted that to the lovely young lady at CW who had made the request.
Her response to this submission was to counter the offer to the buyers for a full appraised value offer BECAUSE THEY WOULD NOT AGREE TO SIGN THE PROMISSORY NOTE! The BUYER'S offer is $156K and the seller's lender's (CW) appraisal came in at $160K. Are you with me here? So, I called the buyer's agent and relayed the counter and he responded that his clients would want to stick with their offer. Soooo, I called the lovely young lady at CW and told her that the buyers did not want to meet her counter or counter at all, for that matter. She informed me that, even though she has full delegation on the file (authorization to approve) she was going to turn it over to her manager. I thanked her and that was that. I really got the impression that was her last ditch effort at getting me to do something that was really rotten and unethical. She obviously has not met me 'cause that ain't ever gonna happen.
This is the most perfect example of passive-aggressive debt collector mentality I have had to deal with to date and I have successfully sold over 50 homes under short sale circumstances in the last 3 years and have already doubled what I did last year in the first 2 months of this year. It was almost humorous. Almost.
No, I am not worried that she will tank my deal. I won't let that happen. I will happily go over her head to get the deal done. I've had to do it before and I will do it again.
To all the loss mitigation negotiators out there, I would like to say this. There is absolutely no point in being passive/aggressive. I am sorry you have such a crappy job but it is not mine or my client's fault. You should not pass judgment on the people who are unable to make their mortgage payments. I would venture a guess that some of you might even be in this position; however, if you haven't walked in their shoes, please, please, just do your job and leave the attitude out of it. We are trying to do a job, just like you are, but I WILL NOT COMMIT EXTORTION in order to get paid, as this young lady suggested to me. Actually, I felt like she was trying to EXTORT my cooperation in order to cause harm to my clients. What was I supposed to do? Did she want me to tell my clients that CW would not approve their short sale if they did not sign the promissory note when I know that is not true? This is not my first rodeo and it sure won't be my last. The numbers work and, last time I checked, that's what it takes to get the deal done.
Let me just say this LOUD AND CLEAR so that everyone interested in this particularly unsavory aspect of our job as short sale Realtors understands, I WILL NOT THREATEN AND THEREFORE TRY TO EXTORT MY CLIENTS FOR THE PURPOSES OF GETTING PAID A COMMISSION. NOT NOW, NOT EVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER!!!!! Please.
Lovely gentleman. Threatened to "sick his lawyers" on me if I did not stop using this terminology. I don't mind changing it at all because I sure wouldn't want to step on any trademarks but I don't think it was necessary to be so hostile and threatening. So, I have changed it. To be honest, I had forgotten that I had even used it and to be quite honest, I don't even like it anymore.
She has a lot of things to sell you. I don't want to sell you anything. Everything I know I will share with you free of charge. Just ask and I am happy to answer.
I want to give encouragement, where encouragement is due. This is one of the best lenders to work with on short sales. They can, if the offer is good, get through the entire process in 30 days or less.
Another lender who is efficient in their process, is AHMSI formerly Option One. It was almost impossible to get a short sale approval from Option One before the change took place. Isn't it funny what a little re-organizing can accomplish?
Take comfort in knowing that the process is speeding up (just a tad) but that it is still a very viable option for homeowners who do not qualify for loan modification.
The short answer is that there are no guarantees. Certainly, it will take more than the usual 30 days since the seller's lender must approve the discounted payoff before a closing can occur. The best we can do is give you an educated guess based on the circumstances of that particular offer. The lender can be the reason for delays up to 90 days. The LARGEST SERVICER whose initials are CW, will probably take the longest. Their process is extremely inefficient so patience will definitely need to be a virtue the buyers possess. Lately, it can take as long as 90 days from contract to close.
Another mitigating factor which may delay the process is the amount of the offer. If it is too low, the lender may not even consider the short sale offer at all since many of them now have "in house" appraisals. That concept is interesting to me since all markets are subjective based on location and the people who are doing these "in house" appraisals are not appraisers or realtors. I believe it is a concept they will abandon in short order once they see how much time they end up spending fighting with REAL appraisers and realtors over differing opinions as to value.
Most importantly, just remember, as a buyer, seller or agent, everyone has to be IN IT TO WIN IT in order to get the GREAT DEAL!!
I am more than happy to share the benefit of my experience with anyone out there who needs it whether they be potential sellers or real estate agents. It is my mission to educate the profession and the public about the option of short sales and to eliminate any fears or objections surrounding it. Realtors seem to find them distasteful as a rule because of the longer amount of time it takes to get to closing. On the other hand, for buyers, they can be a fantastic opportunity to buy a home at a discounted price because of the as-is nature of the sale. At a time when so many of these homes are fairly new, many less than 2 years old, they are not distressed in any way other than needing a good cleaning! Oftentimes, they don't even need that due to the fact that the sellers are good people and are just trying to do the right thing and have every intention of delivering their property in good shape to the buyers to whom they are eternally grateful for buying their home.
I am looking for questions, comments, suggestions, input, education.
REALTOR SHORT SALE SPECIALIST AND PRE-FORECLOSURE REALTOR IN PLANO, COLLIN COUNTY, DALLAS WITH EXPERT ADVICE AND KNOWLEDGE - HERE TO EDUCATE AND ANSWER QUESTIONS
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