Perhaps you’re “upside down” on your house and can no longer afford your mortgage payments. Maybe you owe more than the property is worth and simply can’t refinance. Or, it may be that you still can’t handle your house payments even after modifying your loan or reducing your interest rate. Times are tight and you’re running out of options.
Or perhaps you’re one of the millions of Americans who’ve recently lost their jobs in the wake of the current economic downturn. Perhaps your option ARM mortgage loan is ballooning faster than you can keep up with.
At this point, you probably fear that foreclosure is your only option, or perhaps even filing for bankruptcy. For most of us, neither devastating, credit-ruining event is an option we’re willing to give in to. There’s just too much riding on your family’s future—and your future credit score—to give up. You want nothing more than to avoid letting the bank put your home on the foreclosure auction block. So what can you do? Who can help?
This is where a Shandrow Group-assisted short sale comes in. By now you’ve probably heard an earful about short sales as a “last-ditch effort” for avoiding foreclosure. You might be skeptical about doing one … but are you truly informed on exactly what a short sale is and what a short sale, otherwise known as a pre-foreclosure sale, can do for you in your time of need?
First, just what is a short sale?
Basically, it’s when the seller’s bank or mortgage lender accepts less than what is owed on a home (aka a “discounted payoff”) to quickly offload an existing troubled mortgage. Many banks and lenders are attracted to short sales because they’re one of the most economic means of recouping their losses on a distressed property that they would have otherwise foreclosed on. Plus, a short sale helps lenders, banks and sellers avoid the long, drawn-out, complicated process of a costly foreclosure.
So why should you consider a short sale? What are the benefits to you, the seller? And who can you trust with a short sale?
You can look to the Shandrow Group’s Top Reasons to Sell Your Home Via Short Sale (immediately below) for the answers to those extremely pressing, timely questions. You’ll be clued-in in no time, and if you have any remaining questions, you can always call me, Mark Shandrow and the Shandrow Group team, at (562) 364-9505. We’re here to help.
Top Reasons to Sell Your Home Via Short Sale:
1. The power to avoid foreclosure.
With a short sale, you, the seller, win by taking foreclosure out of the equation. Short sales give you the power to sell your home, even if you owe more than your home is worth. Banks are often willing to forgive much of the mortgage debt you owe and you walk away with the pride of knowing you did not get foreclosed upon.
An increasing number of mortgage lenders are accommodating troubled homeowners to stave off the long, drawn-out, extremely complicated foreclosure process. They are willing to make concessions in the seller’s favor to avoid taking over a losing asset, especially in the current declining housing market.
By with stopping a foreclosure via a short sale, you will not have to endure the crushing impact (nor the social stigma) of a foreclosure plaguing your credit history.
2. The power to avoid bankruptcy.
Short selling your home has the potential to save you from having to file for bankruptcy, not to mention skirting years of hassle and phone calls from increasingly aggressive debt collections agencies.
Again, as with avoiding foreclosure, with a short sale you will not have to endure the crushing impact (nor the social stigma) of a bankruptcy on your credit report.
Also, in effect, you’ll be doing your part to ease the country’s foreclosure crisis and reduce the epidemic of neighborhood blight at the same time.
3. A speedy sale.
Less time spent on selling your home equals less hassle and fewer headaches for you. The faster you amicably offload a property you can no longer afford, the faster you can move on and start fresh. Short sales are typically INCREDIBLY FAST transactions; many Shandrow Group-assisted short sales take only 30 days to close.
4. The power to better control your credit score impact.
In keeping with the Shandrow Group’s professional commitment to full disclosure, it is important to note that a short sale can impact your FICO credit score by approximately 75 to 100 points (depending on your own personal credit history), as opposed to a foreclosure or deed-in-lieu transaction, which can reduce your credit score by 250 to 280 points (again, depending on your own personal credit history).
Plus, a short sale filing record will likely remain on your credit report for as little as two years. According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a bankruptcy filing remains on a person’s credit report for 7 to 10 years. A foreclosure will negatively impact your credit score for 7 to 10 years as well.
For more on the Shandrow Group’s successful short sales knowledge, experience and proven track record, check out yesterday’s post—an honest look at the benefits to short sales buyers.
Best,
Your trusted connection to the Southern California real estate market,
Sincerely,
Mark Shandrow
REO Broker-Associate
Keller Williams Realty
markshandrow.com
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Fantastic points! I wish more people could understand this. Sometimes i think just the phrase short sale scares my clients. However once you sit them down and explain the benefits, often it makes perfect sense.
I am in a short sale – I am the seller. I don’t know if the same holds true for LA as it does for Arizona, but by short selling your home, you DO NOT take foreclosure “out of the picture.” It’s still there. I put my house up for (short) sale April 1 which was the same time I had to stop making payments. My house is now under 2 contracts, both initiated the first of June and the information is with my mortgage company. If I do not make atleast one payment before July 3rd, my house WILL go into foreclosure even though there are 2 contracts being reviewed. So “avoid foreclosure”? Doesn’t look like that’s happening in my case. Do you have information I can use here in AZ to stop the foreclosure proceedings?
Dee
Fantastic job:
I’ve been in the real estate business for over 30 years. Your information and explainations are the best I’ve read from any site.
Keep up the good work.