Navigating a Short Sale World
Real Estate Update with Cheryl Marlow
770 KKOB AM’s Residential Real Estate Specialist!
For those of you who don’t know a short sale is when the bank allows a pay off “short” of their lien amount in order to get the home sold. In today’s real estate world, short sales are popping up everywhere, and for a lot of homebuyers out there they are very appealing! I can appreciate the allure of the short sale from a buyer’s perspective in that you can often get a great deal on a home. But we also have to remember that a short sale can be a very long drawn out process. Many buyers come into the market for short sales thinking that not only are they going to score a great deal, but they’re going to get it quickly. But not so fast. Bank approval on offers sometimes takes weeks or even months. Or, you may even never hear back from the bank. So you have to be patient and wait it out, that is IF you have the time to wait.
It often is a long process and unfortunately, agents rarely get updates from the bank during the process. In turn, buyers and sellers will rarely get any real information during the process from the agents because in all reality we don’t know anything until the bank responds to the offer.
If a seller is in financial trouble, it would be in their best interest to go through a short sale rather than endure a foreclosure. Why? Well, the primary benefit in going the short sale route is that the seller will avoid the devastating effects on their credit that comes from a foreclosure. Short sales will not affect your credit to the degree that a foreclosure will. After a short sale, you’ll be eligible for a mortgage in just 2 years. A foreclosure on the other hand will leave you waiting 5 years. There really are many different benefits into taking the short sale route.
When going through a short sale, you want to make sure that you are doing everything correctly. Most importantly, you need agents on both sides of the deal that are knowledgeable in the short sale process. If they don’t have experience the sale will be compromised and could end up falling through. As an agent with a lot of experience in working with short sales, I can tell you that it is imperative to have someone representing you that absolutely knows their stuff! Because in all reality, your success in a short sale deal is almost 100% dependent on the ability of your agent to do their job. They should know how to deal professionally with the banks and also with the other agent. But remember, even experienced agents like myself are unfortunately still at the mercy of bank employees.
If you are interested in buying or selling a home today please call me at 238-3272 or email me at cheryl@cherylmarlow.com.
Cheryl Marlow
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