Terms Of A Short Sale Defined

Redwood City, CA: When homeowners owe more on their home than what it is worth, along with the current mortgage crisis sweeping across America many homeowners are unable to pay off their mortgage(s). There are many reasons why homeowners have been faced with a hardship that forces them to take the high road by using a Short Sale. The hardships could be a loss of a job, illness, death in the family, divorce, and in most cases the type of loan used to purchase their home initially, like an adjustable rate loan with a very large balloon payment due.

These are just a few of the reasons a homeowner would ask for a short sale from their lender. A short sale mean the lender agrees to settle for less on the property than what is currently owed on the property.

Please do not forget the lender is not a real estate company. They would prefer to have their money instead of your property. This is why lenders are more likely to accept a short sale on your property. It’s to everyone’s benefit to find a new buyer for your property than go into foreclosure from most lenders prospective.

A majority of Realtors, like myself, can do the necessary paperwork and negotiations with the lender in order to facilitate your short sale. When you hire me, I would make sure with your accepted offer for an amount less than what you owe to your lender that you would submit the additional documents the lender would require before they would even consider your short sale. Some documents are obvious; purchase agreement, tax returns for the last 2 years, bank statements for the last 3 months, pay stubs for the last 3 pay periods, and most importantly a hardship letter.

Your hardship letter needs to be in your own words and hand writing, which states why you are requesting a short sale from your lender. The many reasons have been listed above. As an added benefit of working with Cliff Keith and Team I would help you by providing to you, sample letters for you to use to write your own hardship letter. A hardship letter which would help explain to your lender why it would be beneficial for them to take your short sale offer.

There are many good advantages to you as a homeowner, who owes more on your home than what it is currently worth in today’s real estate market, to request a short sale from your lender. They include:

1. Save your credit history.
2. A viable solution to an embarrassing situation.
3. Lowering your stress level of constantly trying to find money to meet your current financial obligations.
4. A quick and somewhat easy answer to a mortgage foreclosure.
5. In the end a better self esteem because you did as you promised when you sign the lender’s note/mortgage.

Today’s real estate market is packed full of homes selling via short sales. The last statistics from California Association of Realtors, in June 2011, states 40% of all home in CA that were sold in June ’11, were sold using a short sale. There is a reason why this figure is so high and that is short sales helps all parties involved:
1. The lender gets some money back on the money loaned. (Remember the lenders have been made whole with the TARP money given them a few years back.) Any money they receive, no matter what they say, is all gravy.
2. The property owner lifts a huge pressure off their backs. Clearing their minds to start thinking about something good for a change.
3. And the buyer of the property receives a great property at a reasonable price. It’s a win-win-win situation.

If you currently find yourself in a situation where you think you may need to sell your home via short sale maybe a call to Cliff Keith and Team is an avenue you’ll want to research. You can respond to this post, send an email, text, or you can plain out call us at 650-597-1821 (24/7)! We will respond to you usually within 4 hours.

We look forward to helping you with all your real estate needs. Thank you.

“Helping buyers and sellers with their real estate needs since 1976!”