How to Do a Short Sale

A short sale in real estate occurs when the outstanding obligations (loans) against a property are greater than what the property can be sold for. Short sales are a way for homeowners to avoid foreclosure on their homes and still be able to pay off their loan by settling with lender.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Financial Calculator
• Real Estate Brokers
• Online Mortgage/finance Services

1. Verify the value of your property. If you are selling the property through a real estate broker, your broker will provide you with an estimate of market value. If you are selling the property yourself, do your own market analysis of the area and your property.

2. Add up all the costs of selling the property. If you are using the services of a real estate broker, the broker will provide an estimate of closing costs. If you are selling the property on your own (for sale by owner), call a local title company or real estate attorney and ask, as a seller, what the closing costs will be.

3. Determine the amount owed against the property. This will be the total of all loans against the property.

4. Do the calculations. Subtract the total amount owing against the property from the estimated proceeds of the sale. On a short sale, this will be a negative number.

5. Contact the lender or lenders. Talk to someone in the customer service department and tell them the situation. They may direct you to a specific department. Talk to a supervisor or manager if possible; this person will have more authority.

6. Ask the lender what its procedures are for a short sale. Some lenders are willing to work with you by reducing the amount owed or making other arrangements. Others will look to the agents involved (if any) or anyone else who's making money off the transaction to see if they are willing to make concessions to make the transaction happen. Still other lenders will tell you that your debt is your responsibility, one way or the other.

7. Sell the property.

Tips & Warnings

• Closing costs will include title and escrow fees (if the seller is responsible for any portion of them, which will depend on your county), attorney fees, a portion of unpaid property taxes, re-conveyance fees, notary fees, delivery fees, documentary fees and/or transfer fees.
• If you sell the property without the assistance of a real estate broker, you will save the amount of the commission and have more to apply toward paying off your loan.
• If you feel more secure having a real estate broker handle the transaction, consider using a discount broker to market your property. You could also try to negotiate the sales commission with your broker.
• Remember that the amount on your monthly loan statement does not include interest. Interest is accrued until the date a loan is paid off, so you may have as much as 30 days of interest on top of the balance owing, and you'll need to include this interest in the total payoff amount.
• If a property is sold under a short sale, the lender may require the buyer to make up the difference, either through a personal obligation or a collection.
• The IRS often gets involved with short sales, because they are seen as a relief of debt and may be treated as income. Check with your accountant.

[yellowjag]

on 11/7/2009 Hey dawg, you give out lots of advice, how many homes do you own???

[yellowjag]

on 11/7/2009 TO; dawgymama - Bet you don't own a home. There are a lot of details people need to understand in order to get out of this government-shyster created housing mess, most of it costs the homowner nothing. Not taking the correct action is what could cost homeowners serious damage.

[pshively2010]

on 10/22/2009 There are a few details that someone should know before entering into a short sale.
Regarding step 6: You will want to contact the Loss Mitigation Dept. which handles Short Sale Negotiations for the Lenders. You file will be assigned to a Stage One Negotiator where an internal BPO will be ordered and your financial hardship will be vetted. After this Stage 2-4 hammer out the details of the loss the bank is willing take on the transaction in order to avoid foreclosure. Usually this amount is 70-80% of the BPO. Once a final offer is accepted by both parties and final negotiation is complete, title and escrow becomes involved for the closing of the transaction.
If you do not have the proper documentation into the bank by the time your file is in stage 1 of negotiation, your file will take an extremely long time to process. A HUD-1, PSA, Bank statements, W-2, Proof of Funds, Hardship L...

[dawgymama]

on 10/10/2009 Jeeze, how transparent can you be?

[susanhorton72]

on 10/8/2009 The best thing to do is to get a real estate agent to do all the work for you. In a short sale, the seller does not pay for the commission, or the closing costs. So essentially, you have nothing to lose, but gain an agent who will relieve you of the hassle so you can focus on finding another home. Hey, the agent may even have some helpful advice for that too.