That's a great Idea. I think that offering seminars or workshops to homeowners who are peril would be a good thing. Education on what is available to them would be great.

I am not sure what is happening in your area, but coincidentally I am attending a lawyer seminar on short sales, foreclosures and assistance to the public - the cost is a little pro-bono work, but I hope that I can help some people out here in Springfield, MA!

Hi Lynn. This is something that really needs to be addressed. I have made contact with many community groups within my home state of Michigan and guess what. These Non-profit groups are all underfunded and really not geared toward this. Most of the groups that are in a position to help are the ones handling other issues such as domestic violence and things of that nature.

On a National level there are a few organizations making an effort. The one thing that I see across the board is that all of them are trying to keep people in their homes. That is great but, what about all of the others? I have offered my services to many groups who all tell me the same thing. We are not geared toward selling but, rather keeping them in their homes. Again I think that is excellent as I refer people to these groups quite often before asking a Realtor ro list it for a short sale.

So what about the people that the organizations are unable to help? I know what happens to them. they get scammed by the stop foreclosure for a fee companies. They sell everything that they own to try and catch up. They give up and let the home go into foreclosure. Who is there to let them know that a short sale is an option. Me, you and other short sale specialists. The ones that care about the people left behind.

Ulises, so true as education is key in all that we do.

Nyles, that's great to hear.  I believe that what the most of us want is to help those who need it and find a way in which to reach them. Reaching the masses is critical.

Exactly, Ron. The first and best solution is for the homeowner to stay in their home but what about the people that the organizations and Lenders can't help to keep in their homes and I think that it's a lot.  Who is letting them know what their next choice is? I'm not hearing it as they're not geared up to direct them. Then you'll find the homeowners who make their way to those claiming to take away their foreclosure and all they take away is money from the homowner - it's just awful.

LYNN & RON--In our area we actually have short sale and REO seminars for other Realtors. We figure the more we can educate the Realtor that are afraid of the process the quicker we can gain control over the renegade tactics.

I also do seminars at local community centers. We've tried to get the HOA to hold seminars at the communities but they're afraid of retribution from the "neighborhood" Realt

Sidney, that's great that you offer seminars to Realtors to get them up to speed with Short Sales.

The side that I was really trying to touch on is hearing about the option of a Short Sale through the media; primarily National and Local TV news plus Local print.  This is where I'm not seeing it aimed at the consumer. Doing seminars at local community centers is a good way to try and reach them - keep it up!

Lynn:  Great idea!  Just make sure that ALL the positives AND NEGATIVES of short sales are told.  The short sale is not necessarily an end-all, fix-all for a seller.  There are some negative impacts to the seller (probably not as great as a foreclosure or bankruptcy, granted), nevertheless, it greatly concerns me that REALTORS(R) sell the short sale quickly without informing the seller thoroughly.  With the credit environment that we are heading into, it will be MUCH more difficult to buy their next home in my opinion.  I think it is our fiduciary duty to be honest with the client about these issues.  I wrote a post recently about these, encouraging agents and brokers to be very careful with knowing and relaying ALL the facts before recommending a short sale.  I suspect that in years to come we will see a rash of suits against agents that PUSHED the seller into a short sale and never informed them about the negative impacts.  This is VERY SCARY to me and my attorney has confirmed that he thinks this is a very real possibility as well.  OK so just call me paraniod!  Remember in Real Estate, its' not IF you will be sued, but when.  I choose to be safe rather than sorry and hope I can get a few others thinking about this as well and save them from a painful issue later!

Steve, it's true what you state and the Sellers need to know everything about a short sale and its appeal as a lesser of other evils.