Short Sales

PALM BEACH, Fla.

By preparing for a real estate short sale, you can emerge with a great home at a favorable price.

When sellers need to sell their home for less than they owe on their mortgage, they're shooting for a short sale. Short sale homes can sometimes be bargains, but only if you do your homework, stay patient, and remain unemotional during the sometimes lengthy and difficult short sale process.
Here are six tips for protecting yourself emotionally and financially when bidding on a short sale.

1. Get help from a short sale expert

RISMEDIA, May 22, 2010—With short sales making up almost 35% of home sales in March and the country with a national foreclosure problem, I Short Sale, Inc., one of the largest short sale firms in the U.S., sets the record straight on common short sale myths.

1. You must be default on your mortgage to negotiate a short sale. Short sales are not a function of default status on a mortgage. They are the result of the bank mitigating a potential default situation that, in the long run, will cost more money to the investors.

RISMEDIA, May 13, 2010—With short sales making up almost 35% of home sales in March and the country with a national foreclosure problem, I Short Sale, Inc., one of the largest short sale firms in the U.S., sets the record straight on common short sale myths.

1. You must be default on your mortgage to negotiate a short sale. Short sales are not a function of default status on a mortgage. They are the result of the bank mitigating a potential default situation that, in the long run, will cost more money to the investors.

RISMEDIA, May 8, 2010—Marketing Messaging by Tricia Andreassen - A key element for working short sales is making sure you can get the word out in your market to let sellers know there are options other than the foreclosure route. Many times, the homeowner is hiding. They are trying to find out what they should do and are feeling overwhelmed.

RISMEDIA, April 22, 2010—Perspective by Walt Baczkowski - The short sale and foreclosure wave—a more accurate reference may be tsunami—has dramatically changed the real estate profession…and not all for the good. We have been dealing with this new real estate reality for more than a year now, yet lenders still seem to be befuddled on how to expedite or develop a process to handle these sales in a timely manner.

WASHINGTON – April 5, 2010 – Effective today, the short sale process is simplified. The only problem: Many lenders don’t know it, and Realtors may have to convince them.

The Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program gives $3,000 to borrowers for relocation assistance, $1,500 to servicers for administrative and processing costs, and up to $2,000 to investors who allow up to $6,000 in short sale proceeds to be distributed to subordinate lien holders.

RISMEDIA, March 17, 2010—Distressed homes are still accounting for more than a third of all sales nationwide, providing evidence that real estate recovery is still fragile at best. While there is no magic bullet for understanding or navigating the short sale process, Realtors who excel at managing these transactions will find success in today’s market. In this month’s Power Broker Roundtable, industry leaders Terry Hankner, Helen Hanna Casey and Larry Hibler discuss how to take advantage of the distressed market.

PHILADELPHIA – March 12, 2010 – With the highly touted federal mortgage-modification program falling short of its target numbers, the government has looked into alternatives to foreclosure and come up with a possible, though not original, solution: The short sale, a transaction in which the lender accepts less than the balance owed on the mortgage.

Beginning April 5, under new Treasury Department rules, short sales will be presented as the potential next step for homeowners who are rejected by or fail to make the grade for the federal Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).
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