Homeowners with second mortgages have a higher risk of a delayed short sale or foreclosure. Why? The 2^nd lienholders have trouble (rightly so) allowing tens of thousands of dollars to be forgiven and often times, their denial of the short sale offer results in more loss on their interest(s) than if they cooperated. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics Inc. in West Chester, Pennsylvania, says, “Subordinate liens have become the biggest hurdle to resolving the foreclosure crisis more quickly.” How do our agents resolve the 2^nd mortgage issue? By Persistence and Communication.

First, what are some local governments doing to eradicate the subordinate lienholders issue? A recent bill proposed by Rep. Jerry McNerney (Cali’s 11^th congressional District) called the “Fast Help For Homeowners Act” aims to expedite short sales by requiring second mortgage lenders to review and make a decision on a short sale agreement within 45 days. If the lender does not respond within the time frame, the short sale is deemed “approved” by the second mortgage lender on the 46^th day. McNerney ultimately wants this bill to provide relief to homeowners throughout the country.

I commend rep Mcnerney for putting effort in publicizing the issue and proposing ways to get 2^nd lienholders to comply. Do I believe more laws and regulations will improve the situation? Not necessarily. Will it actually produce positive results for the short sellers? From a historical perspective, one can easily be skeptical but we all can hope for the best.

To set the scene (reiteration of my last post) of a typical short sale with primary and subordinate lienholders, picture a room of five famished people waiting for food and suddenly throwing one pie right in the middle. Most likely, a fight will break out for the pie and it will probably end up getting ruined resulting in a loss for everyone (AKA foreclosure). This is what typically happens in a short sale transaction and 2^nd lienholders are usually the biggest contributors to this demise.

What uncooperative 2^nd lienholders do not understand is IF they allow the property to fall into foreclosure, they will get nothing from the transaction. Yes, they are able to pursue the borrower for the remaining balance post auction but they would have to pursue via lawsuit which will add on more costs, time, and a headache. The homeowner will probably end up filing for bankruptcy anyway.

Now, one indispensable element to a successful short sale transaction is COMMUNICATION. Our previous post The Secrets Of A Pro Negotiator, emphasizes the importance of communicating with all parties of the transactions well, one of which is the 2^nd lienholder. The job of a professional short sale agent or 3^rd party negotiator is to communicate the simple notion, “Here is the whole pie. You can either have a piece of the pie or nothing at all. We think you should take the piece we offer you.” Although many no’s will be spoken from the 2^nd lienholder, through months of persistence and explaining the present circumstances, they will eventually understand that accepting the offer will be the better financial choice than the alternative.

What do you think is the solution for subordinate lienholders?

Peter