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Do I Qualify For a Short Sale?

Most Sellers who stop making mortgage payments and are headed into default have the option to do a Short Sale on their home. There are numerous benefits to selling the property before the foreclosure is finalized.

On Short Sales buyers and investors negotiate with the bank through the homeowner's Real Estate Agent. Accomplishing a Short Sale before the home foreclosure helps preserve the Seller's credit, greatly minimizing the amount of time it will take for their credit to be restored. Letting the bank take the house is one of the worst decisions a homeowner can make. By defaulting on the largest loan one can take you destroy your credibility with credit institutions for as many as 8 years or more!

If the home is worth less than the outstanding mortgage balance the difference can be negotiated with your lender by your Real Estate Agent.

It costs the Seller nothing to do a Short Sale. Real estate commissions, attorney fees & back taxes are all paid for by your lender because lenders don't want your home!! Banks are more than willing to negotiate a Short Sale on your home so that they do not have to incur the burden of selling the house themselves.

To qualify for a Short Sale one must simply have a hardship that is preventing them from paying their monthly mortgage.

If you are interested in finding out more about the short sale process & how an experienced Short Sale Agent can help you avoid foreclosure contact Peter Testa at (203) 442-3873 or email me at PETERTESTA@yahoo.com - I have saved countless homeowners from going through the foreclosure process- Contact me and let me tell you how I can help you!

Posted by Peter Testa on 06/01/2009 07:59 PM

Comments (4)

qualifying for a short sale, ct short sale agent, sell my ct home at a discount, options when behind on mortgage, peter testa

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Post is included in group: Short Sale Specialists & Pre-Foreclosure Education

4 Comments on Do I Qualify For a Short Sale?

JUN

Selling a home can be a stressful process in the best of times. Financial distress just adds to the sellers' angst. If you are a homeowner who must sell "short" be sure to hire a competent realtor who has experience and credentials in short sales. You will need their expertise to navigate what can be some very complicated and choppy negotiations with overwhelmed and inexperienced loss mitigators at various banks. These departments are inundated with requests for lien holder approval on short sales and incomplete "short sale packages" end up getting filed and forgotten. Short Sales are best left to realtors who specialize in this arena. Look for credentials such as the CDPE (Certified Distressed Property Expert)

Good point Joanne, if you are a seller looking for a Realtor to negotiate a Short Sale for you please choose a Realtor who has allready successfully negotiated short sales. It saddens me every time I see a homeowner lose their home to foreclosure because their short sale was handled by an Agent who lacked the experience to perform the transaction.

As a side note, with over 20 successful Short Sales under our belt in just the last 2 years I am proud to say that me & my partner have successfully closed every Short Sale we have undertaken & no homeowner we have represented has ever gone to foreclosure. Experience matters.

It's great to have a good track record with short sales! Most agents only close about 30%. Congrats!

JUN

Thanks Melissa, & good to hear from you again.

I have one other point to make regarding the Agent you choose to represent you in a short sale.

Beware of an Agent who's plan is to outsource your short sale to a company that "specializes" in short sales. Short Sale companies (ie. Settle4Less) will work with Realtors who are unsure of the short sale process. They will offer to negotiate the short sale on the seller's behalf- for a fee- often times this fee ranges from $1,500-$4,000. This fee is to be paid by the person in financial distress. A financially distressed seller should never have to pay to have a short sale done- their bank should cover all of the costs related to the sale.

An additional problem with this 3rd party setup is that your Agent will not be kept abreast of the status of the deal by the 3rd party "handling" it. This sort of situation means that the seller, any potential buyer & any pending offer will be in the blind while the deal is being sent in for approval.

Many details go into pulling together a successful short sale. Short Sales require consistent monitoring on as often as a daily basis. If you are one of a thousand files sitting on somebody's desk it's not likely that you are going to sell the house short before your lender forecloses the property.

Short Sale companies that have sprung-up allover the last few years promise the world but I have seen all to many times their deals go to foreclosure while an offer was submitted & sat for months on end.

When 99% of the staff is used to sell new clients on the service & collect the substantial upfront fee the other 1% is left to manage a short sale portfolio way to large to be handled properly.

When I accept the responsibility of managing a short sale for a client I make sure that I handle every aspect of the deal & that the client & any potential buyers are kept abreast on the status of the deal at all times. This kind of disclosure keeps the buyers from walking away while the appropriate paperwork is put into place. My deals close & my clients do not get foreclosed. In addition I would never take an upfront fee from a client in order to do the short sale. Nor should any reputable agent ask for a fee for them self or to pay a 3rd party.

Just something else any homeowner considering the short sale option should know. If anyone has any questions regarding the short sale process I would be happy to answer any further questions on how it works. Hope this has been of help.

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