What to Do before You Try a Home Short Sale

Before you go to your lender to negotiate a home short sale, you need to be prepared. Most lenders haven’t gotten it through their sometimes-thick skulls yet that short sales actually save them money over their costs not only in foreclosures but also what they have when they end up owning yet another vacant property.

Did you know that banks now own 1.1 million foreclosed houses? And that roughly 50% of vacant, foreclosed houses end up being trashed? When this happens, the banks aren’t the only ones who lose—real people lose, too, in the form of watching their own property values drop further and having to deal with the blight of trashed, abandoned houses in their neighborhoods.

So really, a short sale is in everyone’s best interest. And these are the things you should do to make it as easy as possible to get the need to short sell your home through the thick heads of your bank’s employees:

If you have money in accounts with your lender, get that money out. If you want to save any of it—and you should—see if you can warehouse it in the account of a trusted friend or family member. Lenders require that you show financial hardship to qualify for a short sale. Well, you wouldn’t be doing this if you weren’t having a hardship, would you?

Hire a Realtor to negotiate and take care of your short sale for you.   Your Realtor must specialize in short sales or you may not get your short sale to go through. Your mortgage lender won’t listen to you—BUT, they will listen to a Realtor who knows how short sales work.  Feel free to contact us and we can help you navigate your way through the loads of Realtors and find a professional, certified, Realtor who specializes in short sales in your area.

Your Realtor will research the actual value of your home. But, if you feel like doing some research too, then to www.Realtor.com to see what homes like yours in your neighborhood are listed for.  Then check with your city or county Tax Assessor’s office to see what homes in your neighborhood are actually selling for. The actual value isn’t what you think it’s worth; buyers won’t pay for your good memories!  Your home is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it!

Your Realtor will draw up a detailed short sale proposal including all of the costs that are going to be involved in the sale, which will be paid for by your lender—agent’s commissions, title fees, for example.

Your Realtor will go to your lender and negotiate the short sale of your home. It’s also helpful to know that there’s a new federal program available called Home Affordable Foreclosures Alternatives, or HAFA, that will give you and your lender money to make the short sale process go more smoothly.

The other thing you need to do before you start negotiating a short sale with your bank is to take on an attitude of strength and empowerment. Kristin and I know how scary it can be to find out you’re under water financially! We’ve been through what you’re going through now!

Remember that no matter how you got into financial hot water, you don’t deserve to let your life or your family’s lives be ruined by it. Remember all of those bank executives paying themselves millions in bonuses with our tax dollars while they’re the ones who trashed our economy?

You know that their lives have hardly even been inconvenienced.

You’re already losing enough when you’re ready for a home short sale. You’re giving up your home. Your credit rating is taking a hit that’s going to last a few years. You don’t have to apologize to anyone for this—let alone your lender.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 5th, 2011 at 12:02 am and is filed under Short Sale. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.