Foreclosure Help Blog

Understanding Short Sale Process

There is also a good chance that they are trying to line up another buyer for the property. It is hard to know exactly what is going on when working in the short sale process. You are guaranteed nothing essentially, and have no reps or warranties on the transfer of the sale. You may however, get a property for far less than its market value. In some areas it is hard to determine where those values will settle. In some cases banks and lenders are having a hard time valuing the assets they have taken as collateral. Stay patient - and it helps having a contact at the Loss Mitigation department if you have worked with the same lender in the past.

Typically as a homeowner there are only a couple options to rescue a home from the short sale process - either paying the full past-due loan balance, or structuring a loan modification, which banks and lenders are more lenient to put together under the recently initiated Obama stimulus package.  One thing to remember is that BANKS DO NOT WANT TO OWN REAL ESTATE.  They would much rather use any alternative available - and because they are dealing with a record number of defaulted loans, they are more willing to offer loan modification.  Refinance is still possible through many lenders but credit conditions have tightened, so only the most credit-worthy borrowers are able to refinance with good terms in todays market.

 A short sale typically is executed to prevent a home foreclosure, but the decision to proceed with a short sale is predicated on the most economic way for the bank to recover the amount owed on the property. Often a bank will allow a short sale if they believe that it will result in a smaller financial loss than foreclosing as there are carrying costs that are associated with a foreclosure. A bank will typically determine the amount of equity (or lack of), by determining the probable selling price from a ”Broker Price Opinion” BPO or through a valuation of an appraisal. For the home owner, advantages include avoidance of a foreclosure on their credit history and partial control of the monetary deficiency.

A short sale is typically faster and less expensive than a foreclosure. In short, a short sale is nothing more than negotiating with lien holders a payoff for less than what they are owed, or rather a sale of a debt, generally on a piece of real estate, short of the full debt amount. It does not extinguish the remaining balance unless settlement is clearly indicated on the acceptance of offer.