My Favorite Topic, Short Sales!

First of all, what is a short sale?



A short sale is when the owner of a property owes more than what the property is worth. Typically, the owner is in some financial difficulty and is unable to make his/her mortgage payments and unable to sell for enough money to payoff the mortgage(s).



The owner contacts their mortgage companies and asks permission to sell the property for fair market value and have the mortgage company forgive the balance of the loan.



Seems simple enough, doesn't it?



Well, the basic premise is simple, but throw in a couple of realtors, a seller, a buyer, a mortgage company or two, a servicing company, investors and mortgage insurance and a simple solution becomes a very stressful real estate transaction.

Is there anything we can do to streamline a short sale transaction?

Yes and no! The reality that approval of the short sale will probably take a full 90 days in most cases. Once the selling agent, buying agent, seller and buyer understand the time frame, there is much less stress on all parties involved. Constant communication goes a long way here.

In my next post I will talk about the various steps necessary to completing a successful short sale.