GREAT NEWS! NEW RULES COULD SPEED UP SHORT SALE PROCESS!

GREAT NEWS! NEW RULES COULD SPEED UP SHORT SALE PROCESS! 

If you are one of the 11 million homeowners underwater on your mortgate, there may finally be some good news for you. Beginning in June, when you make the choice to do a short sale to disburden yourself from your unmanagable mortgage and avoid foreclosure, you may not have to wait for months to hear back from the bank once you have submitted an offer from a potential buyer.  

If a loan is owned or securitized by either of the dominant conventional mortgage market players - Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac - short sale sellers can expect a response within 30 business days, with a final decision taking no more than 60 days. This news is a breath of fresh air for any short sale seller who has been through the frustrations we have seen along this difficult road to mortgage freedom...

We all know that short sales can be complicated, and that they can take anywhere from several months to more than a year to complete, but they are turning into a mainstay of the real estate market these days. In 12 states, including California, there were more short sales recorded during January than sales of foreclosed properties. Short Sales, with all of ther "short comings", remain a preferable option for millions of homeowners seeking to avoid the far more damaging option of foreclosure. And now the Federal Government is enacticting standards to make the process smother for short sale sellers!

If a seller doesn't hear back during the first 30 days, under these new rules, the bank will be required to send them weekly updates specifying precisely where the holdups are and when they are likely to be resolved. Banks and loan servicers that don't comply with the new rules will face monetary and other penalties. The mandatory timelines are being imposed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the regulatory overseer of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac... 

The new 30-day and 60-day mandates address just one of the key points of delay in the process, but regulators are promising a series of additional steps during the coming months aimed to speed up transactions. These plans include clearer guidelines on borrower eligibility, property valuations, compensation for lenders holding second liens and mortgage insurance issues.