Archives for June 2013

Listing Your Home For Sale

With regard to what price you should set your home for in a short sale, Elizabeth Weintraub, a real estate broker at Lion Real Estate and the author of Home Buying/Selling Guide on About.com, suggests the following advice: “not only do you need an attractive sales price to entice a buyer to go through the shenanigans inherent in a short sale, but you need to satisfy the banks appetite for profit.” She also went on to state “if you can’t give the bank a decent sales price, the bank might reject the short sale.” In a nut shell you have to make the selling price of your home attractive to a prospective purchaser while convincing the financial institution that holds your mortgage you are not giving you home away.

The Mechanics Of A Short Sale

So now you’ve placed your house on the market at an attractive price and you have received an offer. What comes next? You will have to fill out a number of documents requested by the financial institution that maintains the mortgage on your home. In addition you will have to provide documentation of a hardship to convince your financial institution to allow you to move forward with the short sale. You most likely will have to provide your financial institution with several years tax returns, pay stubs and other expense related documents. Be patient when submitting your documents to your bank. They have an underwriting process they submit short sale applications to. It is estimated it will take your financial institution between a month and a month and a half to review your short sale package.

Conclusion

A short sale should never be your first option. Your first option should be to do everything in your power to keep your home. Short sales usually take place after the homeowner’s have fallen behind on their mortgage payments. This creates a negative credit score for the homeowner. After selling a home in a short sale, it is very unlikely you will be able to purchase another home in the near future. Therefore, before you get involved in a short sale, you should meet with a foreclosure attorney to determine if there are any other alternatives to selling your home in a short sale.

A short sale is the sale of a home for less than the amount due on the mortgage of that home. Shorts sales are usually initiated by homeowners who are in financial difficulty. Short sales are alternatives to having a home lost pursuant to a foreclosure proceeding by the financial institution that holds the mortgage.

Investigate Your Options

Although a short sale is one means of dealing with a home that is underwater, there are other available options. Your first option should be to apply for a mortgage modification. Another option is to enter into a forbearance agreement with the financial institution. A third option would be to litigate issues such as predatory lending, unfair lending practices, mortgage fraud, lack of standing of the lending institution to sue and other affirmative defenses you may have to a foreclosure proceeding. If all else fails you should speak with an attorney that handles short sales to get a better understanding of how they are dealt with in your locality. Thereafter, you should meet with several real estate brokers to find the best broker to help you with regard to your short sale.

Be Realistic Concerning The Value Of Your Home.

Many homeowners can remember, when the real estate market was strong, how much their home was worth. The issue in today’s market is how much will someone pay for your home! In a free market economy, your house is only worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it. Discuss with the real estate broker you hire what he or she feels your home would sell for. Another alternative would be to have a appraisal of your home by a real estate appraiser. (It should be noted your real estate broker will do the appraisal for free and the appraiser will charge you an appraisal fee).