Call Ski - 954-235-1384
AAA Realty Group Inc
30/Fri/10 02:09 AM
April 29, 2010
SHORT SELLING MY HOME: From a resident in phase 4.
Q: I currently am finding it harder and harder to afford our home, we are a month behind in house payments and I owe close to $200,000 more than my home is probably worth, what can I do or can you help us with info about short selling.
A: After getting the details on your home and the outstanding mortgage I agree that you are in fact upside down. There are several options available to you but in this case we will discuss short selling.
Many hear of the nightmare about short sales, how long they take, they are not approved, banks don't respond, etc. Carmen and I currently have five short sales in process. The most recent is a home which the owners were up to date on their mortgage and NEVER late on a payment. However, their financial situation recently had changed and they anticipate that they will be unable to afford their house payments. We listed their home in late March and received several offers within the first 15 days. We chose two of the best offers, one as a primary contract and the other as a backup contract . We assisted the Seller with the Short Sale package and submitted it in April 2nd, 2010. By Tuesday April 6, 2010 we were contacted by both lenders and had appraisals done by the end of the week. On April 15th we received conditional approval of the short sale by the first lender, on April 27th we received a final approval from the 2nd lender with a deadline to close by mid June.
In this particular case the Seller owes the first lender approximately $530,000.00, the second lender is owed approx. $69,000.00. Negotiated was that the first lender is going to accept $415,000.00 which is $115,000 less than owed, the second lender is being offered $6,900.00 which is 10% of the outstanding balanced owed. The first lender is actually going to give our Seller nearly $3,000.00 to help offset their moving expenses. Furthermore, our Real Estate Attorney helped negotiate a full satisfaction of mortgage along with our client being released from any further collection efforts by the lenders. In short the Seller sold the property and the banks accepted $177,000 less than what was owed, all within a 3 week period.
What is important to achieve in any short sale is a thorough understanding of how the short sale impacts you, the homeowner. You do not have to accept a banks initial authorization if you are not comfortable with their terms. In many cases the bank will approve the sale however they maintain the right to pursue you for the "deficiency" which is the remaining balance of the money owed after the bank is paid from the proceeds of the sale. There may also be tax ramifications if the home you are selling is not a primary residence for you.
We suggest speaking with the appropriate experts such as an accountant/C.P.A. for possible tax implications, Real Estate Attorney regarding the best terms and conditions for you, and of course us, Carmen and Ski, to market your home and assist in you in the entire short sale process.
It should be noted that the short sale as described above is not how all short sales work in time and process. We have been doing short sales on homes before the term "short sale" existed. Our first "short sale" was a home we sold in Pembroke Pines (Chapel Trail) around 1997. Since then we have developed a streamlined process that gives the lenders what they need the first time. Lack of experience in handling a short sale will delay it. Many real estate agents and attorney's claim to be "experts" in the short sale process, if they do put them to the test. Ask for proof of their experience, such as copies of Short Sale Approval Letters with their clients names and info blanked out. If they can't produce them look elsewhere, or call Carmen & "Ski" us.. Here is an actual example of what letter of Approval would look like.
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April 15, 2010
From former Imagination Farms Resident Sharon Baron: Carmen and Ski, This site off the Imagination Farms website is fantastic! Excellent market information for all the residents too.....fantastic idea! Your flash animation on top featuring the \"Best in Show\" of your listings is just incredible. This website alone will be a great stand alone site one can find on Google. I hope the residents of Imagination Farms finds this useful. As the former Web Admin, your sponsorship link is a real asset to the community website. Sharon Baron
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From resident in Phase 3:
Q:You mention that you can sell our home without a listing agreement, how is that possible?
A: We are very active in Imagination Farms, on virtually every showing we meet the agents and their buyers at our listing to show them. This gives us the opportunity to not only explain features about our home but also find out what they are looking for should our listings not suit them. As a homeowner you may not wish to list your home, however you still may be interested in selling. If so we will meet with you and give you an idea of what your home is worth. Then with your permission we can show your home to any potential buyers.
There is no listing contract to sign, there is however a "showing agreement" which permits us to tell people about your home and to show it based on your instructions along with identifying a price. It also outlines the brokerage fee structure. This is not a listing agreement and can be cancelled at any time. It may interest you to know that our listing agreements can also be cancelled at any time without penalty.. The biggest difference between a listing agreement and showing agreement is that we do not list or advertise your home for sale, nor can we give you priority over our listed properties. Over the past 3 years we have sold 12 homes like this, 2 of which were in Imagination Farms.