Stanislaus County Short Sales - Get A Fresh Start For The New Year

I have been asked a couple of times in the last month "If we list our home as a Stanislaus County short sale can we stay in it through the holidays?"  Fortunately this is one of the easier questions to answer.  Almost certainly you will be able to stay in your home through out the holidays if you list it now.  The one exception MAY be if your home has a Wachovia Mortgage because they move VERY fast on their short sale approvals.  

In October in Stanislaus County the average days on the market for all homes sold was 60.   So just based on that piece of information alone if you were to list your home today (11/2/11) as a Stanislaus County Short Sale you wouldn't be closing the sale until the first part of 2012.  Of course 60 days is an average, some homes sold faster and some took longer to sell.  So what would happen if you listed your home as a Stanislaus County Short Sale today and you received an offer tomorrow? 

When you receive an offer it still has to be either accepted, rejected or countered by you the seller.  This could take a few days.  Once we have an accepted offer then the offer along with other documents is sent to the bank.  Once the bank has the documents they will take a few days to review them to make sure they have everything they need.  When that is done the Short Sale Package will be sent to the negotiator.  The bank will also hire someone to appraise your home.  After the appraisal is done it can take a week to 10 days (best case) for the bank to review it.    The bank will then make the decision about the short sale.  They may conclude that the purchase price is too low so that will have to be renegotiated with the buyer.  Sometimes the bank may even accept the offer just as it is.  All of this negotiation will take about a month (in the best case) or longer. 

So even if the home is listed and you receive an offer on the first day and you get the bank approval within a month you will now have the escrow period.  Most buyers are borrowing the money to buy your home so the escrow period will most likely be at least 30 days.  We are now up to a total of 2 months and into early 2012.  Of course this is a very simplified version of what happens during a short sale. 

So if have been thinking about listing your home as a Stanislaus County Short Sale but didn't want to have to move out before the holidays now is the time to list it.  You can get the process started now and make a fresh start in the new year.  Call me today at 209-633-2839 and we can discuss your situation and what is best for you.  I look forward to hearing from you soon.