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Have You Considered Buying A Short Sale Home? Don't Waste Your Time Without Reading This First!

By
Real Estate Agent with The Shannon Jones Team DRE #01247705

short saleHome buyers often have very strong opinions on whether they want to buy a short sale. Some tell me they want to look at short sales because they've heard they're great deals. Others want nothing to do with them because they've heard the process can drag on forever.

Before a buyer decides whether to pursue a short sale, it's important to understand a little more about what a short sale is and what to expect. 

A short sale is simply a sale in which the homeowner owes more than the property's current market value. In order to transfer title to a new owner, the homeowner's mortgage company (or companies) must agree to accept less than the full balance of the loan. Banks will consider doing this if the homeowner has a monthly income shortfall causing a financial hardship, and the homeowner doesn't have significant cash funds. 

That seems simple enough, but it can be a complicated and lengthy process that requires a lot of expertise and follow-up on the part of the listing agent.  In fact, if you're in a big rush to be in your next home, you may want to pass on a short sale because it really ought to be called a "long sale." And if the seller doesn't have a legitimate hardship and the listing agent doesn't have much expertise or experience, chances are the short sale will never close.

The California Association of Realtors (CAR) estimates that fewer than three in five short sales actually close so it's important to have good information about what your chances are of buying a home before you fall in love with it.

Shor sale homeowners often look for agents with specialized short sale education or designations. (For example, I hold both a CDPE - Certified Distressed Property Expert - and a PSC - Preforeclosure Specialist Certification.) I recommend that buyers look for that same level of experience and education.

Some agents will show short sale properties to buyers, write offers, and then simply hope that the seller and listing agent can successfully negotiate the short sale. We do thing a little differently. Because of our team's successful track record with short sales, we know what questions to ask a listing agent to help determine whether the short sale has a chance of closing. 

I have a long list of questions I ask short sale listing agents, and if I don't get the right answers, I don't even recommend that the buyer look at the home. If your budget was $300,000, would you look at $600,000 homes? Probably not, because you know you wouldn't have a chance of buying them. The same holds true with short sales that have three strikes against them. They're out!

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 IMPORTANT NOTICE:

Before using a short sale service, consider the following information: The Shannon Jones Team and Keller Williams Realty are not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender. Even if a seller accepts a short sale offer and uses our service, the lender may not agree to change your loan. If you stop paying your mortgage, you could stop paying your mortgage and damage your credit rating.

This is a Mortgage Assistance Relief (MARS) disclosure required by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Posted by

 Shannon Jones

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Shannon Jones is a Realtor residing in Long Beach, CA. She leads an award-winning real estate team that has been serving home buyers and sellers in Long Beach and surrounding communities since 1998. Shannon and her team provide their clients with high quality marketing and excellent service. You can check their reviews on Yelp or Zillow.  

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CalBRE License #01247705 / 562-896-2456 / Shannon (at) ShowMeHome.com
 

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