short sale: How Much Does a Short Sale Cost the Seller? - 08/02/10 06:26 PM
 
How much does a short sale cost the seller?
As a general rule, the short sale does not cost the seller anything. Zero out of pocket, seller brings no money to closing.
When the seller is experiencing a true hardship, the lender recognizes that the seller does not have money on hand to pay closing costs, commissions, property taxes and all the various fees that pop up at closing. The short sale lender pays the sellers costs.
Well, you may ask, how can that be? The lender has me on their robo-call and they’re hounding me 4 times a day … (3 comments)

short sale: Note to short sale lenders: 1,000’s of Realtors are trying to help you. Please let us help. - 07/29/10 01:29 AM
The actual short sale drama below is just one of tens of thousands playing out right now. We can help lenders mitigate their losses. Lenders: Please help us help you.
Case in point:
Bank of America has stopped considering back taxes as an allowable closing cost.
We’ve been working on a fixer upper short sale for more than a year.
Must have had 40+ agents walk through. Had about 10 different buyers submit offers ranging in the $80,000 to $115,000 range. Had it under contract 4 different times. BOA counter-offered the first 3 buyers into oblivion. Current buyer hanging on by … (9 comments)

short sale: Thousands of Louisville Houses Go To Foreclosure – Unnecessarily - 07/25/10 05:51 AM
 
Sadly, every year thousands of houses get scheduled for foreclosure auction in Louisville, KY. Behind every home is a borrower who now has to pick up the pieces and recover from a foreclosure.
However, most of these foreclosures could have been avoided. The various foreclosure avoidance techniques include:
 
Loan modification and various repayment plans Short sales Deed-in-lieu of foreclosure  
Here's a brief overview of these methods:
Loan Modifications
Homeowners who want to keep their house and believe they can afford it should apply for a loan modification. There are many variations of a loan mod, including repayment plans, … (0 comments)

short sale: "I Should Have Done a Short Sale 3 Years Ago" - 07/23/10 02:09 AM
I hear it all the time.
The borrowers want to fulfill their obligations and are deeply bothered that they can't handle it anymore. However, when all resources are depleted the decision is involuntarily made for them. There simply aren't any more financial options to keep the mortgage afloat.
The borrower fought the valiant fight, sometimes for years. Made sacrifices. Lost sleep. Put life plans on hold.
Now they have to learn new terms; Short sale, deed-in-lieu, foreclosure, deficiency judgements.
People are hurting. They need help.
There are options the borrower may not have known existed.
Highly trained Realtors can provide solutions, … (5 comments)

short sale: Loan Modification Denials Often Create Massive Delinquencies - 07/20/10 12:27 PM
More and more I am getting calls from distraught homeowners bewildered by their lender’s behavior.
Here’s the typical cycle:
Borrower submits request for loan modification. Lender puts the borrower on reduced trial payment. The reduced trial payment is hundreds of dollars less than the regular payment. 6 to 12 months later the lender denies the loan modification. Lender notifies the borrower that there are thousands of dollars of accrued interest owed; the difference between the months and months of regular payments and the trial payments. So, not only is the loan mod denied, but now they are in serious arrears. Sometimes … (40 comments)

short sale: Short Sales - What If the Seller Disappears? - 07/12/10 01:56 AM
Sellers turn to a short sale when life events are so overwhelming that the house payments are just not sustainable anymore.
Job loss or reduction in income Injury Illness Divorce Bankruptcy Relocation These are just some of the problems plaguing homeowners. The problems are compounded by declining market values thus rendering the house unsellable for enough to pay off the loan.
Believe it or not, in many cases losing their home to foreclosure is NOT their biggest problem.
Most sellers are extremely cooperative during the long and winding road of a short sale. However, sometimes the seller's life events overwhelm them and … (3 comments)

short sale: An Overpriced Listing May Be a Sign Of A Future Short Sale or Foreclosure - 07/10/10 02:22 AM
Overpriced listings do not sell in a suppressed or declining market. This should be plain and simple common sense.
Many times the reason for the overpricing is simple math; The loan payoff plus closing costs.
However, the house is competing with lower priced houses that are short sales, foreclosures, or houses with sellers who had equity or cash to get their loan paid off even if they sell at a loss.
Sellers and their Realtor should have a discussion about how long the seller can sustain a house payment while the house is on the market overpriced. If the seller doesn't … (2 comments)

short sale: Short Sales - The Buyer Shouldn't Plan On Moving In On Closing Day - 07/09/10 10:27 AM
Say Whaaat?
Unfortunately short sales aren't really guaranteed to close even when all parties say it will. It has to do with the little perils of the last 48 hours prior to closing.
The two main areas prone to last minute problems are:
Short sale lender final review Last minute liens Problem 1: Final lender review
Lenders approve the short sale based on an estimated HUD net sheet that is generated weeks or months prior to closing. Since final prorations will change based on the exact closing date, the foreclosing lender usually wants to review the final HUD 24 or 48 … (2 comments)

short sale: Short Sales - Does the Seller Need to Be Present at Closing? - 07/07/10 03:08 AM
Some of the reasons that cause sellers to need a short sale also make it hard for them to attend the real estate closing.
Some of these reasons include:
Job relocation Military deployment Health reasons Job schedule conflicts with closing time Family and personal reasons The answer is simple; The seller does not have to be present at the closing. However, the closing documents have to be signed and some notarized. There are several ways original signatures can be obtained, as follows:
If the seller is local, a mobile notary can go to the seller's home, workplace or hospital room. Documents … (2 comments)

short sale: HAFA Short Sale - Consumer Friendly Brochure - 07/06/10 05:36 PM
Need a consumer friendly overview of HAFA short sales?
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has published an easy to understand brochure about the Home Affordable Foerclosure Alternatives (HAFA).
The brochure covers:
Benefits of HAFA HAFA Eligibility HAFA Process Useful Links Here's the link to the brochure: Worried About Foreclosure? HAFA May Be Able To Help
The two greatest benefits of a HAFA Short Sale are forgiveness of the deficiency and granting a $3,000 cash incentive to the seller.
Hopefully this post and the linked document will help Realtors simplify the explanation of this important option available to homeowners who need debt … (5 comments)

short sale: HAFA Guidelines - Going To The Source Document For Answers - 07/06/10 03:02 PM
If you're doing any short sales at all you're running into questions about HAFA. If no one seems to know the answer, how about going to the actual source document?
"Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives - Short Sale and Deed-in-Lieu of Foreclosure Update, Supplemental Directive 09-09 Revised March 26, 2010" is a good place to start.
Here's the link: https://www.hmpadmin.com/portal/docs/hafa/sd0909r.pdf
Yup, it's 45 pages long. It's not the most interesting read but mastering it is vital to becoming an expert on the subject. We are representing sellers in what is one of the most critical financial dilemmas they will face. Media and … (1 comments)

short sale: July 4th and Independence from Debt Via a Short Sale - 07/04/10 10:50 AM
July 4th is a day each year for us to contemplate and appreciate the freedoms we enjoy.
I speak with homeowners every day who are searching for their own independence day from the shackles of mortgage debt. Homeowners who are valiantly fighting the fight to meet their obligations but are losing the battle.
Declining job market and declining market values have combined to cause many hard working Americans to be unable to make their mortgage payments on their now overleveraged homes.
Many families have tried loan modifications and a variety of repayment plans, and still cannot overcome the deficit.
A short sale … (0 comments)

short sale: The Importance of Using a Short Sale Expert - 05/09/10 04:37 PM
By David Halpern, Louisville Short Sale Expert, (502) 664-7827 and (502) 895-3100
In my city alone there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of homeowners who unnecessarily lose their homes to foreclosure each year who could have avoided it if their Realtor would have successfully procured a short sale.
Even a highly trained short sale expert cannot stop a bank from defeating itself and not every short sale will get to closing. But it is the Realtor's responsibility to diligently and methodically go through the dozens of extra steps that don't exist in a traditional listing.
With the introduction of HAFA short sales the … (3 comments)

short sale: Divorce, Foreclosures and Short Sales in Louisville, KY - Mistakes to Avoid - 03/28/10 12:04 AM
Some divorce decrees or mediation agreements contain orders about the house that are impossible to fulfill. These orders sometimes further escalates the problem causing further stress, monetary damage and damage to the parties' credit. Some court orders are doomed to fail, causing a spouse to be in non-compliance with a judge's order.
My name is Dave Halpern, a Realtor and Broker in Louisville, KY. I specialize in preforeclosure short sales and close dozens of short sales each year. I have helped many sellers in a divorce situation and have encountered problem situations that could have been avoided.
Divorce attorneys, mediators and … (3 comments)

short sale: Short Sales - When do I have to move? - 03/03/10 01:49 AM
One of the most common questions I'm asked by distressed homeowners is "How long does the short sale take?"
The real question behind the question is "When do I have to move?"
At first I was apologetic that short sales routinely take three to six months or longer, thinking that the homeowner wants to have this stress out of their life as soon as possible. Much to my surprise, most sellers were extremely relieved or even happy that;
(a)    They don't have to pack up and move immediately
(b)   They have time to save up some cash toward their moving expenses or … (6 comments)

short sale: Will lenders consider a short sale when the mortgages are current? - 01/02/10 01:23 PM
A Realtor recently asked me an excellent question: As a Realtor, I'm representing a seller of a home with a first mortgage and a second mortgage. While both mortgages are current, the sum of both mortgages exceed the value of the property. Will lenders consider a short sale when the mortgages are current?
My response:
The short answer is a resounding "yes".  The lender will consider a short sale even if the borrower is current, the question is how will that impact the final terms of the short sale.
A very important and early disclosure is warranted here. Short sale Realtors … (1 comments)

short sale: The Last 24 Hours of a Short Sale - 12/14/09 12:41 PM
OK fellow short sale trench mates, here's a topic that buyers and their agents rarely understand; the last 24 hours of a short sale.
Short sale listing agents know that most short sale lenders require an advance copy of the HUD statement 24 hours prior to the closing. That's when the havoc starts. The banks want to rename fees, nitpick prorations and move line items from one section to another.  The short sale negotiation could have taken eight months and the bank could have $300,000 ready to be wired to them, but often, in the last few hours everyone has to … (5 comments)

short sale: Sellers Have To Help Us Help Them In A Short Sale - 12/12/09 01:47 PM
Articles and blogs nationwide report that only 15% to 25% of short sale transactions close. However, I close dozens of short sales a year with a success rate of about 80%. We are striving to increase our success rate to above 90%.
Guess what the primary reason for short sale failure is in our office;
Lender inefficiency? No
High BPO's? No
Buyers backing out? No
The number one reason? The sellers themselves!
We can persevere with the lender.  We can appeal the high BPO. We can find new buyers if the current one backs out. But when the seller loses focus … (9 comments)