I advise my sellers to talk to a real estate lawyer before putting that Sacramento short sale on the market. Especially if their grant deed reflects non-owner occupants in title. Because when the prelim is issued, all owners of record may be required to participate in the short sale. The lender may require it and / or escrow may require it.

Some sellers don't remember the details of when they bought their home or how they acquired title. This is why I always check title before taking a listing. In California, for example, all parties need to convey their interests to sell a home but the signature of all parties is not required for the listing agreement.

About 10% of my short sale listings involve multiple owners on record who don't live at the property. These people are either family members, who probably helped the owners qualify for a loan when they bought the home; friends who became roommates to make the mortgage payment more affordable and then moved out, or even significant others who have long since parted. A short sale is much easier if these people get off title.

It's not difficult to record a quitclaim deed in Sacramento. It needs to be prepared correctly, but a title company, escrow officer or lawyer can draw a quitclaim deed, obtain signatures and record the quitclaim deed in the public records for a very small out-of-pocket fee.

If you do this upfront, before signing a purchase offer, it may relieve you of a possible headache at closing. I was able to push through to short sale approval a situation where two people are on title without the second person's cooperation. This is a Bank of America short sale involving 2 original Countrywide loans, the worst kind of short sale nightmare possible.

Both of the sellers were not speaking to each other throughout the transaction. It was a bit of a struggle to clean up all the paperwork at closing and juggle the two signings. There is also possible liability that could transfer to the individual who is still in title but not in possession, but I had no contact with the second party.

The good news is this is scheduled to close next week. Providing the Bank of America representative stops yelling at the poor escrow officer and returns the stinkin' HUD on time.

For comparison, I closed two other Sacramento short sales this week. Both of those were relatively fast, from listing to closing, about 60 days. But neither of those short sales involved title problems. This Bank of America short sale, however, has been presenting challenges since April. As a Sacramento short sale agent, I think President Obama should give me and every other short sale agent out there a Purple Heart for surviving Bank of America short sales.

Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub