What is a Short Sale

Explaining a "Short Sale"
With so much information in the media about foreclosures, I thought I would take the time to offer some helpful information on the subject.......:What is a short sale?A short sale is a situation in which the real estate seller owes more money on the loan(s) secured by the real estate than the sale of the property will likely produce on the market. The seller is in a distressed situation, but the bank/lender has not yet taken title from the seller through the foreclosure process. At this point, there might be a window of opportunity for the seller to put the real estate on the market and try to sell it in order to at least partially satisfy the lender who holds the mortgage. Who is the right buyer for a short sale transaction? The right buyer in a short sale transaction must be patient and have money ready to proceed once the seller’s lender does review the transaction... Many times, obtaining lender approval will take quite a bit of time. A recent article indicated that the average time for a lender response on a short sale contract was 4.5 weeks. So your buyer should not be in a hurry, not need to move into a home right away and not be making offers on other properties without the advice of legal counsel. In addition, the buyer should be well qualified financially or have their financing arranged. Think about this........ If your buyer’s contract shows that your buyer is ready to close at any time with no issues on buyer’s loan, this will likely make your contract “package” more attractive to seller’s lender than another contract where buyer’s financing may be in doubt........