about short sales

About short sales describes the process and what the meaning of short sale is.

A short sale is a property that is offered for sale by the owner of record below the amount of the debt recorded against the title of the property.

Causes that bring about this un-forseen financial distress can be loosing a job, an illness, divorce or; if the person in default has his or her own business, they may have costumers not paying them. Short sales are also called distress sales.

Often a notice of default (NOD) or notice of trustee sale (NTS) has been recorded by one of the lien holders, most commonly a bank, before the owner of the property decides to market the property as a short sale.

Sometimes the property owner will try to list the property for sale for the amount being owed but this will not work if this is higher than the current market. So listing it a current market value is the best solution.

The owner may have tried to talk to the bank to re-work the loan first but fallen on deaf ears. But a  real estate professional can approach the lender with the owners written permission and negotiate a short sale.

A complete market research with recent sales and currently listed properties and those in escrow have to be provided to the lender. This requires that the buyer writing an offer has cash or is pre-appoved for a loan and has little or no contingencies.

Offering a property as a short sale, can be a very pro-active way for a homeowner in distress. He or she is still in control of the outcome and not just waiting for the lender to foreclose. As a short sale seller you do have to talk to your attorney and consult with you accountant about the tax ramifications. Not everyone situation is the same.

We offer assistance with the short sale process and can assist property owners and  prepare buyers, for what they can expect to happen, when buying a property offered for as a short sale.

Here is a link the the foreclosure timeline that a lender follows before the actual auction date. The link for the Chase sample short sale package can be downloaded for you information as well as the link to the basic buyer qualification information.