This series on Short Sales In Palm Beach County Florida continues as we explore what happens once an offer is made on a short sale listing. This post is of special interest to buyers who are interested in making offers on short sales. You should know what is involved and your agent should be able to follow and understand the process of making a short sale offer.
To fully understand the scope of short sales in Palm Beach County Florida you may consider reading the other 3 parts of this series:
Short Sales In Palm Beach County Florida Part 1 - What You Need To Know If You Are Buying Or Selling
Short Sales In Palm Beach County Florida Part 2- Qualifying For The Short Sale
Short Sales In Palm Beach County Florida Parr 3- The Short Sale Package, What You Need To Have
Let us assume for this post that the seller knows what a short sale is, his Realtor(R) has experience working in Short sales, the seller has met the qualification test to do a short sale and the seller and his agent have put together all the documents his particular lender requires to do a short sale except for the offer from a buyer. 
Now we are ready to receive an offer from a buyer. A buyer's agent should understand how to help a buyer to understand all that is involved from both the buyer and seller requirements in order to have a transaction that runs as smooth as possible in this given situation.
The first and most important thing to understand about the short sale is that the seller of the property still owns the property, still holds title to the property and still has the say so of what offers will be accepted or not. The seller has mortgaged his property and the lender to whom he pays his mortgage payments to each month is the note holder or in many cases, the note servicer. The bank does NOT own the property. A Lis Pendens may have been filed and foreclosure proceedings may have started but until that property is sold on those courthouse steps the owner of records is still the person that is on the county records.
That being said the owner/seller can accept an offer from a buyer but since the offer falls short of what the seller owes to his lender, there must also be a third party approval to the offer. This third party is the lender to whom the seller owes his loan to.
This third party lender will require the property to be sold in as is condition and will also have to approve all the closing fees on the side of the seller.
As a buyer you will also need to prepare a good presentation with your offer to this third party lender.
Submit your offer on a FAR/BAR AS IS Offer to Sale and Purchase with the new FAR/BAR Short Sale Addendum.
Your agent should have these documents. You also need to have your lender's approval letter if you are obtaining financing for this purchase. Make sure you have been approved for your loan. This means that you have already submitted a loan application, had your credit checked, provided all the documentation to the lender like your W-2's and tax returns. Please be advised that should your offer be accepted it is highly likely that the short sale lender will require you to close within 3 weeks of them accepting the terms and short pay off amount.
You should choose a mortgage company who is on the ball with short sales and knows how to get your loan through underwriting in a short amount of time.
Your earnest money deposit needs to be ready to place right into the escrow account the moment that the third party lender approves your offer. Make sure to get a signed and dated receipt of your earnest money deposit. Keep in mind that if you are paying by a personal check most title companies will require 10 to 14 days for that check to clear. You may consider getting a cashier's check to the title company so that there is no hold up at closing for funds that have not cleared yet.
Along with your offer you should submit a nice hand written letter explaining to the third party lender why you want to move into the home and that you are an end user. We had a single mom tell of her plight to get into a home with her children and that her offer was the highest she could go. She is the one who got the house in spite of their being multiple offers on the property.
Your agent should arm your offer with comparative sales in the area and other market appropriate documents to prove the case of your offer.
The next post in this series will be about how to decide what to offer on a short sale, myths and truths about offer prices on short sales.
Disclaimer: This post is not intended to be or to provide legal advice. We recommend that you speak to your attorney and your tax accountant regarding specifics and to find out if this is the best option for you in your situation.
The information provided herein is supplied by several sources and is subject to change without notice. Wellington Homes Blog does not guarantee or is any way responsible for its accuracy, and provides said information without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. Entries on Wellington Homes Blog represent the opinions and ideas of the author(s). Wellington Homes Blog does not express the views of International Properties and Investments, Inc or those of the broker.
Contact Nestor Gasset and Katerina Gasset, CIPS, Realtors®, International Properties and Investments, Inc. Licensed Realtors® in Florida at 561-753-0135 to list your property for sale or to purchase a property in Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Loxahatchee, Lake Worth, Hypoluxo Island, Lantana, West Palm Beach and the rest of Palm Beach County Florida. We are accepting referrals.
Copyright © 2008 By Katerina Gasset, All Rights Reserved. *Short Sales In Palm Beach County Florida- Part 4 The Process Begins* Contact Katerina Gasset for Customized Business and Personal Coaching.
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P.S. If you are listing your home as a short sale in Palm Beach County Florida make sure you hire an agent who knows how to do short sales and has the experience to get the job done. We are doing successful short sale packages. Call us at 561-753-0135 to find out more.
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