Short sales are certainly a hot topic in the real estate market these days. If you’re not familiar with the term, a short sale is a situation where the seller wants or needs to sell but there is not enough equity for the lender to receive a full payoff of the amount owing on the mortgage (or mortgages in many cases).
There has been much written in the news, reported on TV and talked about around the cul-de-sac with respect to Short Sales and whether they are worth a Seller’s time or effort. I don’t know why, but for some reason everyone in the Universe seems to think they are an expert when it comes to dispensing real estate advice.
Here are a few myths I’ve heard recently:
- If you’re not behind in payments, the bank won’t consider your short sale.
- Not true! While you’ll likely have to demonstrate a hardship to your lender, you do not always have to be behind in payment in order for the bank to consider your offer.
- Once you’ve received a Notice of Trustee’s Sale, there’s no help for selling so you might as well hand the keys over to the bank.
- Not True! Once you have a signed listing contract, some lenders will postpone the Auction Date to allow time for you to get an offer. If they aren’t willing to do that, then they usually will halt the sale once an offer is on the table. An experienced Short Sale Realtor will be able to help you with this process.
- There is no advantage to a seller to work out a short sale with their lender vs. letting the house go in Foreclosure.
- Short Sale offers never go through and the house ends up in Foreclosure anyway.
- Of course there are no guarantees, but I review files daily…many of which are short sales and I can tell you that to a large degree, the success of a short sale being negotiated is directly related to the knowledge and experience of the Listing agent representing the seller.
- Any agent can help a seller with a short sale.
- True, but refer to the prior bullet point.
If you know someone in Maple Valley or the surrounding market area who needs or wants to sell but is upside down in value, please have them call an experienced real estate professional or my team. We have extensive experience and training with helping owners navigate through the Short Sale process and this past Spring I received the Certified Distressed Property Expert designation.
Statistics show that prices in a neighborhood drop about 10% when a Foreclosure is listed….let’s all help be part of the solution!
