How to make a successful short sale

These days a lot of people are finding that they are unable to pay their mortgages. When this happens there are not a lot of options available. One that you may want to consider is a short sale. It is not ideal but it is better than having the bank foreclose.

A short sale occurs when the owner of a home finds themselves in a position where they can no longer make the payments on their mortgage but if they were to sell the house the value that they receive would be less than they owe on the mortgage. In this case the lender may be willing to accept less than they are owed. Keep in mind that the lender is under no obligation to agree to this and will only do so if allowing the short sale is a better option than the alternatives. If they think they can recoup more of their money by foreclosing than that is what they will usually do.

The first thing that you are going to want to do before you make a short sale is talk to both a lawyer and an accountant. There are legal and tax ramifications to a short sale so you need to make sure that you know how this will affect you before you do anything. If after this you believe that a short sale is the best option then you are going to want to contact a realtor, preferably one who specializes in this type of sale.

In order to make a short sale you are going to have to get the bank to agree to it. That means that you are going to have to call them and discuss your situation. It may take some effort to figure out who you need to talk to at the bank. They will need you to submit a number of documents that will cover things like your income, assets, expenses and a letter explaining why you are in need of a short sale. They will also want information on the real estate market in your area so that they can get an idea of what your house is likely to sell for. Based on this they will make a determination of whether or not they will allow a short sale. At this stage it is just preliminary, final approval will depend on what kind of arrangement you can make with a buyer.

At this point you and your real estate agent will need to find a buyer for the house. This is pretty much the same as selling any other house. Once you find a buyer you will need to submit the offer to the lender and they will then make a decision on whether or not to accept it. If they do then the sale will go through and that will be the end of it. Keep in mind that the lender will probably report this to the credit bureaus so it will have a negative impact there.