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.