I had a call the other day from an agent in Southern California who wanted to know whether sellers can still get short sale assistance money or relocation assistance money. So, here’s the answer to that question: yes, no, and maybe.
How do you like that for clarity?
Let’s start with the ‘yes.’ In the state of California, there is still money available through the Transition Assistance Program. If the seller qualifies for this program, then the short sale seller can get up to $5000 at closing. In addition to that and on a national scale, the US Treasury still has the HAFA program and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have their own versions of this program. For HAFA, if the seller qualifies, there is $3000 available if the seller is an owner-occupant. With Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, if the seller qualifies, there is up to $3000 available. Some banks still pay assistance money on their portfolio loans (the loans that they own themselves), but these banks generally never above $5000 and often in the $1000 to $3000 range.
Here is the ‘no.’ There are no more programs where sellers are paid $20,000 to $45,000 to seller their homes as a short sale. These programs are LONG gone.
Here is the ‘maybe.’ As mentioned in the ‘yes’ section, the seller needs to get qualified and only certain sellers and certain loans will qualify for short sale assistance. So, despite the fact that there still is some money available, sellers may not qualify to receive it. And… that’s the maybe.
Here is some additional information about each of the programs mentioned:
Transaction Assistance Program
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