Tweet

A Stroll through the Short Sale Process

Guest post by: Bud Gragg

Article Overview: If you're having trouble making your mortgage payment but want to avoid foreclosure, the short sale process is one way to go. At the very least, you'll be able to put off a foreclosure for up to a year; at best, you could even end up renting the house you're living in now for half of your current monthly mortgage payment!

A Stroll through the Short Sale Process

If you're having trouble making your mortgage payment but want to avoid foreclosure, the short sale process is one way to go. At the very least, you'll be able to put off a foreclosure for up to a year; at best, you could even end up renting the house you're living in now for half of your current monthly mortgage payment!

How do Kristin and I know? Because that's exactly what we did with our primary residence. We put it up for a short sale, sold it to a cash investor, and now we're saving a lot of money renting our house from him!

But before you decide to do a short sale, here's what you need to know about the process.

To qualify for a short sale, you'll need to prove financial hardship.

The federal government started a program in April called Home Affordable Foreclosures Alternatives. HAFA sets deadlines for different parts of the short sale process, pays incentives to homeowners and mortgage holders, and requires that homeowners be released from any future liability for their mortgage.

That last point is important because, in the majority of states, the mortgage holder can come after you for the difference after a short sale. And some bankers are starting to get aggressive about doing just that. Not only that, your lender has 6 years to start trying to collect, and once it starts, it can hound you for 20 years!

Homeowners have already been able to negotiate their way out of their mortgages through short sales, but the passage of HAFA might make that process even easier.

Don't try to go to your lender yourself to negotiate a short sale. That way leads to heartaches when you aren’t able to execute a short sale because you don’t understand the process. Instead, hire a Realtor who specializes in short sales to negotiate with your lender for you. Please trust us on this. Kristin and I are both Realtors, and we had to go through a lot of short sale training and education to be able to truly do a good job for our clients. Short sales are not for the inexperienced Realtor.

Once you get the go-ahead from your lender, list your short sale with your Realtor. Your lender might try to force you to go with a particular Realtor or agency—don't do it.

And here's some good news for you. By taking matters into your own hands, you just might be able to find an investor who's willing to make a deal with you like the deal that Kristin and I made with our buyer!

But be careful on this one. You might be required to sign a document stating that you are getting no benefit from your short sale. This is called an Arms Length Transaction Agreement. If that happens, you'll have to move—if you don't, you'll be committing fraud.

Of course, once your house is listed, you may end up getting very little notice on the move date, so it's time to start planning for that date now. This means getting rid of stuff you don't need, packing anything you can pack, and making plans on where and how you want to live when the short sale is done.

But don't expect your short sale to be “short,” either! With the current market, it can take up to a year to sell even the best houses. However, you'll be able to save the money you were using to pay your mortgage during that time!

When it comes to saving you from the frustrations of a foreclosure, there's not a much better route than the short sale process. You may still need to foreclose, mind you, but at least with a short sale, you're putting off that date, usually for a long time.

And don’t fret if you need help finding a qualified, certified short sale Realtor. Just contact us and we can help you find one in your area.

Related Articles
  There Is Nothing Short about a Short Sale
  Home Short Sales: What They Are, How They Can Help
  What to Do before Foreclosing on or Short Selling Your Underwater Mortgage
  Nature Helps ADHD Symptoms
  Short Sales 101: What You Need to Know
  What to Do before You Try a Home Short Sale
  How Long Can I Stay in My House and Other Underwater Mortgage Questions Answered
  How to do a Short Sale on Your Underwater Mortgage and Avoid Foreclosure
  Looking for a Simple Short Sale Definition? Here It Is!
  Short Sale Training Boot Camp for the Underwater Mortgage Homeowner
  How to Do a Short Sale and Why
  Dealing with the Bank on Your Underwater Mortgage Short Sale
  What Salespeople Can Learn from a Focus on the Chase instead of the Hammer
  Underwater Mortgage Solutions: What Is a Short Sale?
  Did we forget how to sell?
  Sales Success Tip-Four Steps to More Sales
  There is Life After a Short Sale or a Foreclosure!
  Selling on Price
  Losing vs. Not Winning the Sale
  Small Business Cashflow Crisis? Have a Sale!

Article Tags: bank short sale, home short sales, house short sale, how to do a short sale, how to short sale, mortgage short sale, short sale, short sale definition, short sale foreclosure, short sale help, short sale information, short sale process, short sale training, what is short sale
Referred by: http://www.meetkarennewman.com/



Related Forum Posts
Re: What's in a Name? - Sale or promotion relies a lot in name chosen for product/business.
Franchise of a popular call center - Hi All, I was planning to setup a franchise of a popular call center services company . They are giving several services to their customers like - knowledge management , workforce management , Business Process Automation etc. Now I need to know that from where and how I should start and who must be my targeting customers.
Internet Users Hbk http://www.internetscamsanonymous.com - Current site for sale of our handbook as a Clickbank product Welcome any and all feedback: Sale page Content Handbook Content Pricing Too Big Considering braking it to 2 volumes: Avoiding Scams Online and Doing Business Online and maybe ad 3rd volume related internet technology Kind of like selling preventive medicine!! Thank you in advance for your interest and comments
[Suggestion] Human Resources Forum - Thoughts? - I just noticed about 5 minutes ago that there is no forum for Human Resources discussion. It may not be a large part of startups that are sole proprietorships, or even partnerships, as most groups starting up a company know each other, their respective roles, and the company really well. But as companies expand and become more successful, HR becomes an increasingly large contributing factor to a Small Business' success. [size=130:3anbwuqp]Short version: Do you think an HR forum would be a worthwhile addition to the forums?[/size:3anbwuqp]
Re: Franchise of a popular call center - [quote="robsam":1feiaya2]Hi All, I was planning to setup a franchise of a popular call center services company . They are giving several services to their customers like - knowledge management , workforce management , Business Process Automation etc. Now I need to know that from where and how I should start and who must be my targeting customers.[/quote:1feiaya2] Call center is a popular business nowadays and I'm sure you're good in that business, sounds like!


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Winning Market Share in a Tough Economy

Four Secrets to Earning Income as an Author

Emotional Intelligence in Business

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.