Short Sale (Part 1) – Nothing Short About It!

Short Sale, what?

If you’ve been paying attention to the real estate industry at all in the past year or so one of the buzz terms that you’ve heard frequently is SHORT SALE.  In short, (pun intended) a short sale is occurs when the owner of a home (or more commonly their REALTOR) negotiates with the bank(s) to accept less than what is owed on the note(s) as payment in full.  This in turn allows the owner to sell the property to a waiting buyer. 

The most common times we see the need for a short sale include when a homeowner is upside-down in their home and finds themselves unable to make the payments (loss of job, ARM increase, health issues), when the owner needs to relocate out of state, or in the unfortunate case of divorce and a forced sale.  A short sale is very often a pre-foreclosure process and a better alternative to foreclosure.

In a form of sick irony and contrary to their name, there is nothing short about a short sale.  The time frame is getting better but it usually takes a minimum of 3-4 months and we had one that took nearly a year. 

The faxes aren’t short.

The phone lines aren’t short.

The conditions aren’t short.

The commission cuts aren’t short.

The only other short thing we find occasionally is that the tempers are short (usually not ours, you get more flies with honey…but that is a different post).

The process isn’t easy and it surely isn’t fun for any of the involved parties.  You’ll find that many REALTORS turn up their noses at short sales and won’t do them.  They are too hard, too time consuming, too low in commission…the excuses go on.  While we concur that they aren’t the easiest thing to do, when did we ever commit to you (our customers, clients, friends, family) that we would only work hard for you if it was the easy thing to do? 

We’ve sat across the table from people during the difficult times. 

We’ve cried with clients and friends and clients who’ve become friends. 

We’ve talked to agents who did this the last time around and were profusely thanked years later for “saving our marriage”. 

If you know of anyone who is in a difficult situation we’d love to speak with them.  They DO have options and we can help.  Please just call us at 480.444.2231 with their contact information and we’ll take good care of them.