This wasn't the easiest Short Sale but after 14 months and 5 buyers we finally got it closed. Another Florida Short Sale success story.

The property:

3 bedroom 2 bath single family home located in Saint Cloud Florida. It was bought new in 2006 for $253,500. The owner was transferred almost immediately and was never able to move in. It has never been lived in.

Liens:

• Mortgage with Bank of America for $235,000

• HOA lien for $3,800

• County lien of $300 for mowing

Hardship:

Loss of income

Issues:

This property was placed on the market in March of 2009. It was actually a referral from an ActiveRain member. The biggest issue was that the community this property is located in has a CDD (Community Development District). The annual "fee" for this CDD is $2,700 a year. This is on top of the taxes and the HOA fee. So basically the cost to live in this house is well over $600 a month BEFORE you add in the mortgage and the insurance. This is OK on an expensive property but when the property is less than $100,000 the cost is way out of line. This exorbitant cost is the reason we had 4 buyers that could not or would not close. Here's a good article on CDDs in Florida.

Anyway, we were able to find a buyer that was willing to pay the costs of living in this community. Bank of America would only pay $1,000 towards the HOA lien so I had to negotiate this down as low I could get it. I got it from $3,800 to $3,100 and the seller was able to borrow money to pay the $2,100 that Bank of America would not pay. I personally paid the county mowing lien to help get the transaction closed.

The property sold for $91,000 and Bank of America accepted $81,829 on the $235,000 that was owed. Or 35 cents on the dollar. Do you need help with your Florida Short Sale?