Short sales provide homeowners upside-down on their mortgages a means by which they can sell their home and possibly have their mortgage debt forgiven. The housing market crash and poor economy have been a boon to the short sale market. They have also been a boon to scam artists looking to take advantage of homeowners completely unaware of the standards and rules that govern short sales. Before you enter into a short sale, before you put one dime of your own money toward short selling your home, you need to be aware of a couple of things.
1: Don't Pay Anything Upfront. If you're working with a short sale negotiator who demands upfront payment to negotiate with your lender on your behalf, STOP! Upfront payments are illegal unless approved by the state. If the state approves, then monies are then to be held in escrow until services are rendered and there's a full accounting of how the money was spent. In other words, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES are you to be paying upfront fees directly to your negotiator.
2: Have an attorney review the terms of the short sale. A number of realtors have jumped into the short sale market having only an afternoon class to educate them on the many intricacies of the short sale process. Because these realtors do not understand the short sale process, they may miss recourse language which would enable banks to pursue you for payment of your mortgage debt even after your home is sold. A good short sale attorney may be able to eliminate "recourse" language from the sale thereby stopping banks from trying to collect on your mortgage debt in the future.
3: Be prepared to wait for a long, long time. Whether you're a buyer or a seller, don't be fooled into thinking that the short sale process is quick. The great irony of "short" sales is that they take longer than standard sales. Be ready to negotiate and, if you're the seller, don't pay for the services rendered by your short sale negotiators or realtors.
Perhaps your realtor or short sale negotiator isn't demanding payment, but you're still uncertain about their ability to close the deal on your short sale. The best thing you can do is ask to see results. If your negotiator or realtor claims to be a short sale expert, ask them how many short sales they've closed in the past year and what their success rate is.
If you're looking for short sale experts in Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, or Orange county, we recommend you work with Fitzpatrick and Prince Real Estate and Rasmussen Law Firm. They have a proven record of success having closed 95% of their short sales. Nationally, the average short sale closure rate is only 20%. Additionally, these companies have worked together on a number of short sales, they understand how the other operates, and can move quickly, together, to negotiate with the banks to close your short sale.
Start the conversation today with Mark, Whitney, or Blake at Fitzpatrick and Prince Real Estate.
Give them a call at: 800.880.9962.
