The Other Side of Short Sales

Everybody talks about how hard it is for a buyer to wait for short sale approval, but you rarely hear people talking about the toll it takes on sellers. Short sales are no picnic for anybody, but they are especially difficult for sellers.

If the deal falls through or the bank rejects the short sale, the buyer hasn't lost everything. The buyer has lost a little time. The buyer can go buy something else. The sellers, on the other hand, either start over with a new negotiator or let the property go to foreclosure, which is the very thing they were trying to avoid by doing the short sale. This is after waiting for months for an answer from the bank.

It's the uncertainty that sellers have to face. It's emotional blackmail. They don't know what the bank will do. Not even a seasoned Sacramento short sale agent can accurately predict 100% of the time what the bank and the bank's investors will demand. From the torture of having to write a hardship letter to handing over personal documents such as tax returns, bank statements and payroll stubs for scrutiny and examination by people who don't give a crap about the seller, short sale sellers experience plenty of anxiety. Who wants to be placed under a microscope?

They worry about what the neighbors will think. Will the neighbors judge them because they are trying to do a short sale?  Will the neighbors get ticked off that the short sale will pull down their property values? Will pranksters throw eggs at their house?

If they have children, do the kids pray on bended knees at night that their short sale gets approved? Our Heavenly Father, bless mommy and daddy and Sparky, and please let the bank approve our short sale.

Sellers worry that their lives will never return to normal. They have never-ending questions to which there are no cut-and-dry answers. Should they pack up the house? Will they move in with their parents? Can they insure a vacant house? Who will water and mow the lawn? Who will rent to them? Is their credit rating shot? Where do they have to move to find a job?

I wish buyers would think about this before defiantly walking away. They're not harming the banks. They are causing irreparable damage to the sellers.

Photo: Big Stock Photo

---

Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout Sacramento. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.

The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available through bookstores everywhere and at Amazon.com.

Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.

Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice. It could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.