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Understanding Short Sale Transactions | A Guide to Short Sale Facts & Myths

Understanding Short Sale Transactions | A Guide to Short Sale Facts & Myths

Short sales in Massachusetts

A short sale unfortunately has become a common buzz word in the Real Estate industry. For those that have been hearing the term "short sale" and don't quite understand what it means, a short sale is a legal lender approved solution designed to assist a home owners who is financially strapped to get out from under their mortgage debt.

A short sale is negotiated through the mortgage holder of an owners home where by the mortgage holder agrees to take less than what home owner owes on the property.

A quick example of a short sale would be if a home owner owes $400,000 on their current mortgage and their home is only worth $350,000. The lender in this example would agree to take a short fall of $50,000 at closing.

In some cases the mortgage holder may completely wipe out the debt and the home owner does not have to repay the 50,000. Many lenders may require a seller to sign a note and repay the debt over a certain amount of time. Typically the debt will be reduced and the owner may receive favorable repayment terms of the short fall.

There is quite a bit to know about short sales from both a buyer's and seller's perspective. I have been successfully been completing Massachusetts short sales over the last three years. In fact (knock on wood) I have never had a short sale that did not get approved! Successfully completing a short sale is about understanding the process.

Many consumers make extremely poor choices by working with Real Estate agents that don’t have a lick of experience with getting short sales approved. Picking a good short sale Realtor is critical to your success.

The following is a number of specific topics about short sale transactions that you would want to be aware of if you are planning to either buy or sell one of these types of distressed properties.

Stop making mortgage payments during a short sale? ~ Whether or not a home owner should continue to make mortgage payments is a common question that many sellers want to know when considering a short sale. The most common answer to this question is YES, however it really depends on the lender! Click the link to understand all the considerations.

Picking the right short sale Realtor ~ Picking a Realtor to work with in a short sale is very different than a traditional transaction. You want to work with an agent that has experience successfully closing this type of transaction. Remember as a seller you could potentially be facing a foreclosure. There are many mistakes that are made by agents handling short sales. Don't get caught with your pants down!

Stopping a Foreclosure Via a short sale ~ Nobody ever sets out to buy a home and then see themselves in a financial mess. Unfortunately when the economy turned sour lots of folks found themselves in this situation. One of the ways to avoid a foreclosure is to try to short sale your home.

Questions to ask a short sale listing agent ~ If you are thinking about buying a short sale there are some specific questions you can ask the listing agent to determine the probability that the short sale will be approved or not. These short sale questions will also help determine if the Realtor handling the short sale knows what they are doing!

Acceptable hardships for a short sale ~ On many occasions when doing a short sale the lender is going to require some kind of hardship on the part of the seller. Short sale hardships however, have become less rigid recently and some lenders are becoming more concerned strictkly on whether the short sale would benefit them more than a foreclosure sale.

Short sale tax consequences ~ Understanding the tax consequences in a short sale is one of the most important considerations for a home seller. Whether the short sale home was a primary residence or an investment property can have different tax implications.

Getting short sale debt released ~ Getting the debt released on a short sale is obviously a very big deal. Many Realtors that are working with short sales don't have any knowledge of how to get the debt released. A seller needs to pay particular attention to this detail as you can expect to be hearing from a collection agency without it!

When to do a short sale home inspection ~ This topic is important to understand from both a buyer's and seller's perspective. A home inspection should be done before short sale approval and NOT after. Read the article to understand why it benefits both the buyer and seller to do so.

Strategic default vs short sale ~ There are many home owners who are deciding just to walk away from their homes. Fannie Mae has started to crack down on this practice and is now penalizing borrowers from getting a mortgage for up to seven years! A perfect alternative to a strategic default is a short sale.

Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative (HAFA) ~ An easy to understand explanation of the short sale foreclosure alternative program known as HAFA.

Short Sale Fraud - There are many forms of short sale fraud. The example discussed here is when an investor and Realtor engage in fraudulent activity that is not disclosed to the lender. Both consumers and Realtors need to do their home work when considering tying up their home sale with a short sale investor.

Realtors don't let Short Sale Investors negotiate with the lender ~ If you are a short sale Realtor or are thinking of starting to work with short sales and are approached by an investor who want to negotiate directly with the lender, I would really think twice about it! Unless of course you don't mind increasing the odds of getting sued if something goes wrong.

Getting a mortgage after a short sale ~ one of the things I am asked most often in regards to short sales is how long it will take before you can get a mortgage again. The article covers in depth the time it will take before getting another mortgage in both a short sale and foreclosure as well as some of the credit score implications.

These articles were published on my Massachusetts Real Estate blog where I talk about numerous topics that are important to consumers who may be thinking about buying or selling Real Estate.

I am successfully completing short sales through out the Metrowest Massachusetts area. So far, knock on wood, I have a 100% success rate for short sale approval! If you need to complete a Massachusetts short sale please feel free to get in touch.

If you are outside of the Metrowest Massachusetts area and need to do a short sale please give me a call or email and I would be happy to refer you to a Realtor in your location that handles short sales and knows what they are doing! I have referred short sales to other Realtors all around the country.

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About the Author: The above Real Estate information on understanding short sale transactions was provided by Bill RE/MAX Executive Realty Metrowest Massachusetts Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-435-5356.

Have a home to sell in Metrowest Mass? I have a passion for Real Estate and love to share my marketing expertise!

For Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate and homes see Massachusetts Real Estate. Want to have MLS access to beat other buyers to your dream home? Sign up with no obligation at my MLS Property Finder Site.

I service short sales in the following towns in and around Metrowest Massachusetts: Hopkinton, Milford, Upton, Southboro, Westboro, Ashland, Holliston, Mendon, Northboro, Shrewsbury, Hopedale, Medway, Grafton, Northbridge, Uxbridge, Franklin, Framingham and Douglas MA.

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Posted by Bill Gassett Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate on 07/28/2010 07:29 AM

Comments (151)

Short Sales in the Home Selling Channel

massachusetts short sales, massachusetts short sale realtors, short sale myths, stopping massachusetts foreclosure

Originally posted at: Massachusetts Real Estate: Understanding Short Sale Transactions | A Guide to Short Sale Facts & Myths

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151 Comments on Understanding Short Sale Transactions | A Guide to Short Sale Facts & Myths

JUL

2010

Agents who refuse to work with buyers or sellers of short sales have reduced the inventory by about 1/3. Not a good practice.

The trick for buyers and sellers is finding agents with short sale experience/knowledge.

Thanks for the blog Bill.

It is always interesting to see how different states handle short sales.

~Deb Cullen, Century 21 Sunbelt, Cape Coral, FL, 239.233.2322

Bill - a very comprehensive guide for sellers who are contemplating shore sale and a great outside blog. Outstanding!

Bill,

Excellent summary of the high points and excellent links to your other websites.

Bill, This is great information on short sales. So many people don't know what they are. I've had several calls where the person mistakenly thinks a short sale means the time to close is short. Educating people about them is the first step.

Bill, fantastic information , I'm often asked about making payments while negotiating a short sale...sellers are concerned about their credit, but don't understand it is about to take a big hit and they will get no where with their lender as long as they are current with their note. The bank loves it when you are paying, and don't see a need to help when your current. With your permission I would like to re-blog this later in the week.

Bill,

If Buyers are willing to go through the sometimes lengthy short sale process, they can often get a great deal. That is sort of the price you pay for instant equity. Agents who don't do short sales are missing a large part of the market.

Great to see you at Raincamp Boston! I am definately pumped up! (working on that 70%)

Take care,

Marianne

The people(sellers and buyers and agents) that talk shortsales to me are in a weird situation. They have heard a little about it and what they've heard is wrong! Thank you for enlightening the readers of your blog.

Well done Bill. THis is a wealth of knowledge for the agents and consumers. Do you have any inside knowledge on getting to a decision maker through Equator, rather than playing offer volley for months? @MarkMcHugh2

A well-written guide on Short Sales and its myth. Good job, Bill. I wouldn't expect anything less from you anyways.

Excellent information Bill, I am going to reblog as well, I will check where Steve posts it and post to different groups. So now that you are an AR celebrity, are you signing autographs for young aspiring real estate agents.....LOL

Bill, very nice short sale synopsis. Definitely worth a re-blog.

Bill ~ An excellent post and I love the way you link to your outside blog! I wish that NAR would crack down on agents who hold themselves out as short sale experts when they have little or no experience... worse yet, a couple I have dealt with came up with questionable, if not fraudulent plans to try to sell the property...I wish there were ONLY pros like yourself!

Bill You certainly know this subject inside and out. Of course, you always devote the time to unserstand your subject thoroughly

Bill..Great insight on short sales!

Bill the commandments of getting it done right. Sellers should also be careful of working with a short sale negotiator as they may not always have the best interests of the seller as their primary objective, The backward links are so effective, just like they teach at camp

Bill~

Another reason why I subscribe to your blog and read what you have to say! THX!

And now I am wondering how many real estate professionals have personal experience with this process...

Like them or not, short sales are a big part of the real estate market and they will continue to be so as long as unemployment is high and the negative equity is growing.

This is an excellent example of a perfect HUB for SEO. Well done, Bill, bravo. Maybe you will inspire other agents to do a hub for their blogs, too.

Thanks everyone for all your comments. I hope you will visit my Wordpress blog through some of the short sale articles in the links provided.

Mark - Thank you very much. I do not negotiate the short sales that I work with. I have an attorney who does all the negotiating with the lender. The rest of my business would suffer if I invested the time in doing the short sale negotiating.

I would recommend you email either Wendy Rulnick or Katerina Gasset regarding your question about Equator. I would be very suprised if they could not help you with that. They both do their own negotiating and use the Equator system. Wendy started the short sale super stars group. You can find both of them here at AR.

Great post! Very informative! Thanks!

Short..the time involved does not usually match the process egg timer amount of effort, days, months to get from the starting to the finishing line. Expectations reined in help the process, save the time to explain the process along the way which is a waste, not productive.

Elizabeth - You are 100% correct. I have tried over and over to explain this to other agents regarding SEO but most of them do not understand it.

Very nice overview of the issues with short sales, Bill.

Thanks for the information and resources concerning Short Sales.

Bill - Fannie Mae won't review a Short Sale file unless the Borrower is delinquent (at least 30 days past due).

Bill, good info. Glad to see someone busting myths about short sales.

Almost all of our business is short sales. It helps knowing each banks quirks.

Bill, very comprehensive guide for all and congrats on your success rate with them!

Great article! I think every realtor should be educated on how to successfully complete a short sale!

Hi Bill, I have not had a short sale either way yet. In the event that one crosses my path, I will do everything I can to help my client. First of all, I have bookmarked your blog and I also am trying to find classes now that will help get educated right away. Thank you for sharing this, I cerainly can use it. Have a geat day.

Ann

Bill - A wonderful article and greatly appreciated. Education on this matter is extremely important. Will be reblogging for my area as well... Thanks and hope you had fun at A/R Rain Camp... I'm sure you had a great time... I know we did in NYC...

Bill - Well done. You have managed to cover most major points in an easy to read format. Re-blogging to those in my area.

Bill you mentioned during the panel discussion at RainCamp that you had been spending a lot of time producing info on Short Sales and this blog is a good representation of that. It was a well deserved feature.

Bill, this is a fantastic summary!

I still run into a few buyers/sellers still think that a short sale is a home that you need to 'sell in a SHORT amount of time before it goes into foreclosure'. :-)

Wow Bill this is an encyclopedia of short sales. Excellent stuff.

Bill, such helpful information. We're bookmarking it for sure.

Awesome post Bill, congrats on the feature. Hope you also got featured at RainCamp. :-))

Excellent article. It's one of those topics I've heard so much about but know so little in the past year. Hope you have continuing success!

Hi Bill, great post. It helps when the listing agent is educated on the process. When the experience is not there be prepared to work both ends of the deal, being you have to walk the agent through the process if you want your transaction to close. I service short sales in and around my area. Thanks for the points.

Great post Bill! Most of this seems like common sense, but considering how little of that there often is out there...good to have this kind of information posted.

Interesting take on the inspection from the buyer's end. I hadn't thought about that before.

Bill- This was a very well written post about short sales Bill. I am very pleased to find a short sale feature that is actually correct. Sellers who are considering strategic defaults should try to do a short sale first. We are getting strategic short sales approved now. The hardship test is still testy with Fannie and Freddie note owners but the rest of the investors are really looking at their bottom line. Makes financial sense, let's do it! Katerina

This is the kind of stuff I had hoped to learn about from Active Rain. Thank you for posting this and guiding me to your site. This is very much appreciated!

Thats a tremendous post, I'm very impressed with not just the content but the structure with all of the links to other short sale blogs. I would think this would rank very high on short sales in your area.

Bill, fantastic post. Very informative. I like the way you made it simple with just a paragraph explanation. Thanks.

As always, excellent explanation, clear, concise and totally professional!

Thanks again everyone for all your compliments on my short sale articles. I hope some of you will visit my wordpress blog and leave me some comments on the individual posts over there.

Morgan - One of my areas of expertise is SEO. Not only do these short sale articles rank well for Massachusetts you will see them in general Real Estate searches as well. I am averaging about 375 visits a day to my Massachusetts Real Estate blog.

Great blog, Bill! Short sales are such a huge part of our business in the metropolitan areas of Washington State, where I work too, as they are in so many other parts of the country as well. I'm looking forward to the days when the short sale is occasional instead of the bread and butter of my business. Soooooooo much work!

Bill, nice series of articles.

Hi Bill, Your outside blog is very nice and informative! Keep up the good work. Glad to see you are having continued success with listing short sales and getting them approved.

Congratulations Bill. Much success to you. Well written blog. Masterpiece. Worthy of a Gold Star. Great post.

Thanks for sharing this information and putting many links all in one...

Bill ... I like your post here about short sale myths and facts. It's true that home owners should seek our expert REALTORS with experience to help them with the short sale process. "Picking a good short sale Realtor is critical to your success." Yes.

Very impressed Bill. Excellent example of what the general public needs to know regarding short sales. We too are flooded with shorts. Bravo!

Bill - Fantastic blog full of very timely information. I am going to forward this on to a few of my Short Sale Sellers and Buyers!

Also, thanks for the example of a HUB for SEO. I will try to start using this format and see how it works for me!

Bill, great post as always. I don't know what's better, the content or the way you have incorporated links to your new wordpress blog, which I will comment on as well. I would like to re-blog and wondered the best way to make this a win-win for both of us. Is it acceptable protocol for the re-blogger to change heading to make it more local to their market ( with appropriate mention of the real author of course an intro ) and add tags or simply re-blog with an intro? Your thoughts would be welcome.

Dan & Everyone else thanks for all the compliments on my short sale article.

Dan you are able to do whatever you like as long as the link back to me remains. I think it is a good idea to change the description to match your local market.

Great detailed and well-written article Bill!

Bill - very good post with lots of information explaining short sales. And it is important to pick a realtor who has experience with short sales.

This is an excellent summary on Short Sales. I clicked on a few of your outgoing links and will review them all later. A very important component when working with buyers is determining how good a chance that the SS has of closing. I see MANY agents in my area that have 6 closed SS in the last year, but have THIRTY (as an example) or more withdrawn or expired. That tells me that they are incompetent and/ or lazy and are just listing as many as possible to see which ones will stick. That is very unprofessional, and I wonder if they could be sued for incompetence in the future. I realize that even the top SS listers lose a few short sales, but a 20% close rate is unacceptable. Sellers really need to do their home work when choosing a listing agent.

HAFA offically starts on Monday for Fannie and Freddie backed loans. I will be interested to see how this changes the landscape especially as it relates to deficiency judgments. FYI, I do not believe it is ethical for a REALTOR® to tell someone to stop making payments if they are current. However, I did just inform a couple who have been making partial payments for 6 months while trying to work a loan mod, that probably not one dime was credited to principle or interest. It was probably escrowed. I see them tonight becasue while all of this was going on they got a notice of Les Pendens Monday.

I was just thinking it's about time for Bill Gassett the short sale expert in MetroWest Massachusetts Real Estate to come out with one of his well written, informative posts for us here in AR... and lo and behold, I'm just getting in from showing homes and viola ~ there is is! Well done my friend - well done!

Hello Bill, good job with the post today. I enjoyed the read. I've bookmarked it for sure.

Hope all is well with you.

Patricia/Seacoast NH

Very good post Bill. Sellers and their agents really need to understand the short sale process if they want to have success and get it closed. Good stuff.

Excellent, well written post. I can see you really took your time and invested your energy into this. It will pay dividends I can see that!

A most awesome and well deserved feature Bill!! Very very well written and I don't have much to add here!

Top notch advice from a top notch agent. Bill you never stop working, some excellent content here, and I am going to do my first ever re-blog. :)

Wonderful post--lots of great info here--and I'm sure to be bookmarking this one to refer back to it later. I'll probably be printing this one out as a reference piece for my agents as well! Thanks for taking the time to make it so well written....and great meeting you at RainCamp Monday, too!

Bill, I reposted this but forgot to tell you how great the article was. Congratulations of a great post.

Thanks Bill .... a very close relative is going through a short sale and I am going to forward this to them! pippa

Think I'll be bookmarking this so I can just send it to anyone with these questions. Why re-invent the wheel, when you've done such a good job of answering these questions? LOL.

Hi Bill -- While much has been written here on AR and some good stuff at that, when I saw you were the author of this title, I knew I just had to read it as your organization and communication skills are 2nd to none, and this post and series sure does not disappoint. I have learned a ton from you here on AR and this post is no exception.

Bill, I'll be SO happy when short sales and foreclosures go away! I know your short sale transactions probably close without a hitch...wish you'd come down here and list these...they're a nightmare! Hugs!

JUL

2010

Excellent post, Bill. I have bookmarked for further reading.

Another amazing post Bill... I didn't realize your office is only a town away from my office. We should get lunch sometime so I can steal ideas form you. I mean borrow... LOL

Bill,

This is a great post, very informative. I have being doing short sale for a while and think this is a well-written post for agents and consumers to save to our favorites or bookmark. Whether we like it or not we all need to understand short sales. Thanks for allowing to Re-blog :).

Bill -

An informative post, not that I'd expect anything less from you.

You are an excellent writer and so experienced in short sales. You've always been a great source and so helpful to me and my business. Thank you!

Fantastic post full of lots of useful information for consumers and real estate professionals a like!

Thanks!

Great post! Thank you.

Hey Bill - This is great post with tons of info. I would like to re-blog this !

Nice organized presentation. Would love to use some or all for training purposes.

Hi Bill, Well written blog as usual. I work with Short Sales in my area and would agree that if an agent isn't familiar with the process they can do great harm to the Seller. Would also agree that the time to do the home inspection is prior to lender approval. The Buyer always baulks at paying for the inspection prior to approval but there really is no other choice. Can you imagine if a buyer walked based on a home inspection result after you worked countless hours to gain lender approval (never mind the likelihood of foreclosure). YIKES.

Great post. Here in Georgia real estate agents are forbidden by law to negotiate a short sale and a loan mortgage originator must do the negotiations. Further we dont offer opinions on many of the subjects since the financial ramifications can be significant. I send the sellers to resource like this rather than put my foot in it so to say.

Great post very informative!

Bill, no matter how many short sales one does, there is always room for more valuable information. Your post is just that. Thank you!

Great post!!

Hello Bill

One thing I wish you had touched on is the length of time it takes to get a short sale approved. I appreciate this is highly variable from lender to lender, but the key question in a buyers mind. My limited experience with short sales is that our offers go into a black hole with no information offered as to status until a few days before the bank expects to close. This is very hard on most buyers. Any thoughts?

Brian Rugg

Thanks Bill for the wise words of advise to sellers considering short sales. I plan to re-blog.

I have to agree with Len in comment 1 above. My current inventory is 2/3 short sale, 1/3 conventional listings.

Bill, articles like this are a great service, thank you.

Now what a great way to get links back to those posts, on http://massrealestatenews.com

Cool, I need to do this.

In this ever changing world of mortgage do's and don'ts, it is very important to keep up to date. What is true today may be absolutely wrong tomorrow. I refer to the paragraph on Fannie not taking kindly to the Strategic Walk Away. http://activerain.com/blogsview/1639282/i-want-it-i-can-afford-it-it-is-however-more-than-i-want-to-pay-for-it-so-i-ll-steal-it-

Thanks for taking the time.

Hercel Spears

Fantastic. Thank you for taking the time to put this together.

Maya Galletta

Bill,

This is a great post. I will repost it next week and talk about it in a CRS 111 Short Sales and Foreclosure.... class that I am teaching next week in the Chicago area. Keep up the good work, you are making a difference.

Thank you for this article. It did enlighten me to some considerations. I do have one concern though. You state that prospective Short Sale sellers should seek only experienced Short SALE realtors. I am just beginning my first experience of short sales; however, I contacted a title company and their escrow officer who has lots of experience and she is keeping in touch to keep me on tract. I don't think that each person has to know everything but we need to have a mentor in order to over come inexperience. After all you too had a first experience at this at some point right?

For every 10 files we set up to close with a Short Sale, only 2 ever close because either the seller is too far behind or the buyer gets tired of waiting and finds another property.

Additionally, sellers that have fallen behind on their mortgage have also stopped paying other bills and have judgments against them. Often the shorted lender prohibits junior liens to be paid on the HUD which again, kills the deal.

BEWARE... There are investors that look for short sales with the intention of flipping the same day they purchase for a higher sales price to a new buyer. The shorted lender MUST be put on notice (and agree) of subsequent transaction or you run the risk of being a party to defrauding the shorted lender.

Bill

Great post and blog. There's so many facets to Short Sales to be considered.

Great post...

I agree with most of your article, except the 1st line...A short sale unfortunately has become a common buzz word in the Real Estate industry. I don't think it's unfortunate at all that short sales has become a buzz word. It's a natural state of the industry in a declining value market. Shifts are happening daily, and short sales are a very fortunate opportunity for agents, and homeowner's, and banks. The alternative in many cases is foreclosure, which is unfortunate for all....as everyone loses in foreclosure. Thanks, Coach

Bill, great post. I always enjoy reading your Blogs.

Lot's of good information now will some the agents use this info?

Short sales are a minefield for both buyers and sellers unless they are working with an expert AND an agreeable lender. I wonder how many attorneys are going to retire in the future with the money they earn from litigating short sales?!

Bill I am sure you are a nice guy and a good realtor, but you should really not write any more short sale articles until you do some further research. Your article omits the most imporant fact about the short sale process which is whether the loan is securitized and/or backed by VA, FHA etc. Without including this information you are describing the apple without including the core of the apple in your description. Realtors should absolutely 100% STAY AWAY from securitized loans such as those serviced by Homeq Servicing, Wilshire Credit, etc. Their short sale process is much too long and is much longer than your buyer will hold on. With FHA there are guidelines such as occupancy that they will not tell you until months AFTER you have submitted your deal and have waited for an answer that will automatically disqualify a short sale offer. Plus the holders of securitized mortgage notes use a percentage system that in many places only allows a settlement that is higher than the fair market value of the property.

Futher telling someone to stop making their payments can lead to legal ramifications such as foreclosure, and therefore would be considered LEGAL ADVICE, which you are not legally authorized to give. I am sure that was in your coursework when you studied to become a licensee.

Bill,

Thanks for the great info. The shorts are more and more commonplace and it's good to know how to succeed at doing them. This post helps!

I attended a 4 hour workshop about short sales and foreclosures which was very informative. Your post however, really is well organized and my notes from the workshop are not as good as this article. Thanks

Thanks for the summary & it would be great to learn which lenders will really do these vs playing games.

Thanks for the information. I am workig on a couple short sales right now.

Excellent. Extremely well written and well-presented.

More and more, we're seeing short sales getting approved. The more we blog about this as an alternative to strategic default or foreclosures the better for all concerned.

Keep up the good work

Excellent re-post fodder for agents...with the intent of educated their potential clients.

When you create your V2.0 of this post...maybe add more HAFA Stuff. HAFA is going to transform the SS process...(with the lenders kicking and screaming the whole way.)

Next 'trend' in real estate...Strategic Short Sales.

Here is all the HAFA Info.

Hope this helps...and again, great job!

Tim

Hi Bill, This is an excellent review of the issues surrounding short sales and goes a long way toward educating consumers. I'm also thinking we agents can benefit from your expertise !

Bill, what great information and nice, easy to read format. I've bookmarked and am now going back to click on the links.

Great post Bill. We handle a large volume of short sales here in Sothern California and always appreciate any well written articles that help to inform everyone.

Thanks!

Glen

San Diego Short Sale | Orange County Short Sale

Very well written post. I like your approach. I am sure you will get a lot of hits of this.

As many short sales as there are and as profitable as they may be, they are EXTREMELY TIME-CONSUMING. Before taking on a short sale listing, the agent should make sure he/she has the time to do the job. Otherwise, you're doing the seller an injustice. I used to take on all listings but realized in time that some involve so much time that it's not cost effective. I like helping people - but not devoting adequate time to the listing is not helping.

Good info. Thank you. As a distressed real estate (short sales and foreclosures) specialist myself, I read just about everything I find that covers short sales and foreclosures. You may want to check out my blog post Our Phony Real Estate Market to get a glimpse of what has happened and what will happen to the housing market in the next few years.

Excellent and informative post Bill. Love the last sentence where you offer to help people find a realtor outside your area, good thinking!

"If you are outside of the Metrowest Massachusetts area and need to do a short sale please give me a call or email and I would be happy to refer you to a Realtor in your location that handles short sales and knows what they are doing! I have referred short sales to other Realtors all around the country."

1. Nice blog post Bill. Very comprehensive and accurate with respect to short sales.

2. Also, I followed one of the links to your Wordpress blog. That's nice too! The Thesis theme is very nice looking!

3. Hopefully you'll notice the spam comment (#119) above and delete it!

Have a nice day! ;-)

Brian - The Realtor or whoever is handling the short sale should be keeping you informed. Some of the steps you want to be informed about are when the bank recieves the short sale package, when the negotiator is assigned and when the BPO has been done.

Jarret - Every short sale contract that gets signed when I am involved says the buyer has to wait 90 days for short sale approval. End of discussion! If they can't commit to waiting that long then they will not be buying the home. This severely cuts down on short sales not closing!

Frank - Let me re-phrase my opinion. Someone in the transaction should be familiar with the short sale process if the Realtor is not such as an attorney.

Kevin R - While I did not post an article link about FHA and VA short sales I don't think that means I should not be posting articles about short sales. I am quite sure I know what I am doing. How many agents do you know that have never had a short sale not get approved?

This statement does not make sense "Realtors should absolutely 100% STAY AWAY from securitized loans such as those serviced by Homeq Servicing, Wilshire Credit, etc. Their short sale process is much too long and is much longer than your buyer will hold on." Are you saying just screw these folks?

I also never tell a client to stop making morgage payments. I let the attorney handling the short sale do that.

Nice Compendium! I couldn't have done it better myself........!

Thanks for providing this. What a great reference this is. Going to re-blog.

Bill an awesome article, great resource for anyone considering buying a home which is a short sale. You convey your skill and knowledge in the process making a buyer comfortable in your services.

Bill,

What a great resource of a wealth of articles to help people understand short sale transactions.

I like the questions to ask a listing agent regarding the short sale. I like to do this to get a sense of the person I am working the short sale. I also like to ask how often I an expect an update from them. It lets me know how often they "handle" the file.

Bill

as usual what a great post. I completely agree. in our market if you refuse to show short sales or distressed properties you give up over a third of the homes as well.

Have a great weekend.

JUL

2010

Of all of the short sales we have done, only one was not approved. The worst one took 3 years to close. We sold it 9 times!! The bank was ridiculous. It took them 90 days to accept a cash offer for asking price. Of course that Buyer walked away too. We also changed negotiators during the process because it was obvious they were not getting results. The one we have now is tenacious. Most of our short sale processes are less than 6 months. Joy

Great informative blog. Thank you!

Wow, great article. Very indepth. Shows that you have a lot of knowledge and expertise.

Great job!

AUG

2010

Bill,

I have heard of home inspectors implying that they have special expertise, skills or training in inspecting short sales and foreclosures.

How would the requirements vary from a standard ASHI or NAHI home inspection?

Marshall that is a new one on me. I am not sure how a short sale would be any different than a non-short sale with respect to a home inspection. That seems pretty silly that someone would be making such as statement. As you know a short sale could literally be any kind of property.

Great post Bill. Excellent information overall.

AUG

2010

Of all the information I found on short sales, I could not find any information regarding Massachusetts tax laws concerning short sales. Although the Mortgage Foregiveness Act will work on my federal taxes, do you have any information regarding MA state taxes. I've spoken with a couple of accountants that didn't have a lot of helpful information. I did receive a HUD and 1099 form, but I want to be prepared for next year. Thanks.

Dee

everbody's a short sale expert in southwest florida, or so they would have you believe. we have the potential to have the short sale phenomena continue till, well frankly i don't honestly know, but i don't see the end insight.

buyers/sellers should feel free to ask their Realtors and loan officers how many of these transactions they have actually closed. that will probably thin the field a bit.

Great information Bill! I like how you've made it easy for consumers to find the answers to so many questions in one place!

AUG

2010

Dee - The Debt Relief Act only applies to Federal income taxes but most are able to show insolvency for their returns and therefore avoid the related State income taxes

AUG

2010

Bill - I have seen your name around and around the internet. I love this article and I was going to reblog but since so many have, I hesitate. What everyone else says I emulate but I will say that you do a tremendous job with your SEO.

I was searching for certain topics to write some other blogs and BAMM there you were. Great job, I found another subscription.

Thanks Ken I really appreciate the comments on my short sale articles I have put together. SEO is one of my strong suites. Of course this really helps marketing all of my clients homes!

AUG

2010

Bill, I have reblogged your excellent post. Thank you for a really well written piece.

AUG

2010

Good article Bill. I'm certainly going to be reading up on the process.

AUG

2010

Bill, this is an excellent summary that contains great info for short sale sellers! I feel the need to re-blog! :)

AUG

2010

Great post Bill! You have inclded som much good information and hopefully i will generate a large amount of leads for you.

AUG

2010

Very comprehensive

Bill, I appear to be late to the party on this one. Personally I think they should be called long sales as they take a VERY long time.

AUG

2010

I agree with Marchel that they should be called LONG SALES!!! The only one coming up short is the lender, sad as that may be. They requrire extra time, paperwork, sweat, blood and tears and all that for the opportunity to make the same amount of money!! Here's to the sale of the day and gettin it done however it has to be done within the boundaries of honest, integrity and expediency (can that be in the same sentence??). Thanks Bill!

AUG

2010

Excellent post, Bill. I've managed to become a top short sale specialist in my local market in Santa Monica, CA over the past 2 years, and they seem to be getting more and more challenging and complex with so many borrowers having 2nd liens. I'm grateful to have excellent negotiators on my team, and so far, we've been able to close every one we've taken on. I'm happy to brainstorm with anyone on AR!

AUG

2010

Bill,

This is a great article on short sales, with so much good information. Thank you for writing it. Thank you also for making it re-bloggable.

AUG

2010

Bill, what a great compendium of short sale information! With your knowledge of SEO, you will be doing referrals all over the country. It takes a knowledgeable, tenacious, persistent person who won't accept a 'no' to get short sales closed. That's where we come in :)

Thanks again everyone for all your great comments and compliments on my article about short sales.

Sharon - I have actually been refering short sale business all around the country for a while now. My Massachusetts Real Estate blog is very well indexed in the search engines and comes up on the 1st page for all the topics I happen to write about. Short sales have become a large part of my business!

SEP

2010

Really informative post. I refer back to it a great deal.

SEP

2010

Bill - great informative post about short sales! Most people have no idea of what a short sale is - they hear the term "short sale" and think nice happy thoughts - they need to know it can be a tough trying time but with proper guidance from a pro success can be had!

MAY

Great post Bill! I hope it's helped secure you some more short sale deals. We are working quite a few down here in Florida, and enjoying every minute of it.

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Bill Gassett Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate

Hopkinton, MA

More about me…

RE/MAX Executive Realty

Address: 77 Main Street, Hopkinton, MA, 01748

Office Phone: (508) 435-5356

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Metrowest MA Real Estate - Realtor specializing in home sales in Hopkinton, Milford, Holliston, Ashland, Southboro, Westboro, Upton, Mendon, Hopedale, Grafton, Medway, Northbridge, Franklin, Framingham, Shrewsbury, Northboro, Bellingham, Sutton, and Uxbridge MA. Includes Real Estate home sellling & buying tips, Homes for sale in and around Metrowest, Metrowest MA Market reports.

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