Dealing with short sales
Short sales are becoming much more frequent in the United States, mainly because they are an alternative to foreclosure. Homeowners who are facing foreclosure are looking for ways to keep from damaging their credit, and a short sale does just that. Quite basically, a short sale is when the lender agrees to accept an amount less than what is owed on the property loan.
If you are considering a short sale, you should first call the lender that is holding your mortgage loan. You need to specify that you need to speak only to someone who handles the short sales for the company. Be prepared to be put on hold, transferred, and even disconnected a ton of times before you get to the right person.
Next, send in a written letter of authorization. This will give the lending company written permission to disclose any pertinent information to the parties that request it. You should include your name, address, the date, and account number. You should also have the document notarized, just to be on the safe side. Make a copy for yourself.
At this point you will also need to provide a written hardship letter. The best tip that you can get for writing this letter is to be as pitiful as possible, within reason of course. Do not simply say that you lost your job and cannot pay the full amount. You need to include other hardships that you have suffered as well as the loan problems. If you have children, you add them in somewhere as well. It sounds awful, but you need to play the sympathy card here.
In many situations, you cannot sell the home for the amount that is owed. The market rises and falls so quickly, but when it falls, it stays down for awhile. This is usually the main reason for a short sale. It is simply impossible for you to pay the amount that is still owed on the loan because the house will not sell for that much. In this case, you can obtain a comparative market analysis from the real estate agent. If you provide this document to the lender with any other documentation that they need, you are more likely to get the short sale approved.
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http://www.shortsaleteaching.com/training/webinarreplayevent.html