Did you know if you are behind on your mortgage, have little or no equity, and have a pretty good reason for these late payments, you can get your lender to cover the commissions and closing costs to sell your home?
It is called a short sale, and with an experienced Realtor, many can avoid foreclosure and get out from underneath their high mortgage payments. Many people are unaware of this, and I think it is very important to inform people of this option.
When you are upside down on your house and having problems paying your mortgage, you have options. First contact a Realtor who has experience or knowledge of the short sale process. You can not do this on your own, and your lender will not just offer it to you.
Then, you will have to fill out some paperwork and put together some documents for your Realtor to send to the lender for approved of the short sale. Your Realtor can make sure all this goes smoothly and talk to your lender for you.
Once it is listed, you will have up to 120 days to sell the property without the lender foreclosing. When it sells, you can walk away with only a little hit on your credit and can buy again in no time.
Besides escaping foreclosure, homeowners save by the lender paying up to 8% of fees and closing cost, and the lender often accepts offers below market value which allows the home to sell faster. Instead of competing in with all the other homes, your home is priced lower creating less competition.
This is a win-win situation for all involved. The seller walks away free and clear. The lenders do not have to worry about the legal and financial problems of foreclosing. And the buyer gets a get deal.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Kermit Johnson // Sep 15, 2007 at 11:58 am
Are you finding that lenders are accepting short sales in your market?
2 Lisa // Oct 31, 2007 at 6:09 pm
I would just like to state that I live in the DFW area and was under contract on a short sale for a little over a month. I will honestly say I will NEVER enter into a sale on a short sale again. I was looking to buy and found a house (father away from what I had wanted) that was listing at a good price. THERE WAS NO NEGOTIATING! We offered $9 less then the listing price and in the end were told they would take NO LESS then $148K. We agreed and were told it would take some time. We were fully prepared to wait since we are in a lease with over 9 months left. PS: WE WERE FULLY PREPARED TO PAY OFF THE ENTIRE LEASE TO BUY THIS HOUSE!
So, in the end the seller’s agent was everything but professional. She never returned calls to our agent and when she did it was usually AFTER our agent placed over 3 calls w/vms to her. I will honestly say, yes, if you are willing to put up with no follow up from the seller’s agent. If you are able to sit quietly while questions you have are unanswered. If you are willing to have the seller’s agent GIVE DEADLINES that she never met…and I swear to you that the seller’s agent gave my agent 2 different dates to give to us that we would know by and on the 2nd deadline THE SELLER’S AGENT IGNORED CALLS FROM OUR AGENT AS WELL AS MY AGENT’S BROKER! Yes, maybe I shouldn’t swear off short sales but I am! And to top this off-we informed our agent that were were going to TERMINATE THE CONTRACT at 6pm on the date the seller’s agent gave the deadline and what do you know?; we did walk! I do not regret terminating the agreement because I will not do business with an agent that is selling a house TO ME that doesn’t even have the urge to sell for the seller! Short sales do take patience. Short sales are NOT easy to enter into!
If you ever want to know the seller’s agent, feel free to ask. I have no problem telling who NOT TO SELL THROUGH OR BUY FROM!
Leave a Comment