Hi folks. I'm sure there are many of you that are either doing short sales or want to do short sales. Therefore, I am posting this sample cover letter that may help you when submitting a short sale package to the lender. Just remember, you are submitting a fully signed and accepted contract and asking the lender to remove the 3rd party approval. You are not asking them to accept the offer. The lender is not a party to the contract. The offer has already been negotiated and accepted by the Seller.

Also, check with your Broker and your State's laws concerning short sales. I am a Florida Broker and this is how I handle short sales. This is my opinion only.

*************SAMPLE SHORT SALE COVER LETTER***************

Ref: LN# XXXXXXXXXXX
345 Saint Blasse Ct Kissimmee Fl 34758
Bertha Tutas SSN# xxx-xx-xxxx

To whom it may concern,

Following is a complete short sale package. We are requesting a removal of the 3rd party approval clause in the attached purchase contract.

Included are 56 pages:

*
Authorization to release information
*
Fully signed purchase contract with addendums
*
Buyer's pre-approval certificate from Bank of America
*
A copy of the escrow deposit
*
Preliminary HUD 1
*
Current listing agreement with addendums
*
Listing history
*
MLS property print out
*
Property market analysis
*
Hardship letter
*
Seller's financial statement
*
Last 2 years tax returns
*
Last 2 bank statements
*
Last 2 paycheck stubs
*
Proof of child support payments

My comments:

This property has been on the market since 01/04/08. It was first offered for sale at a price of $129,000. The property has been extensively marketed on the MLS, Realtor.com, Craigslist, Zillow, Trulia, Cyberhomes, Virtual tours and was syndicated to over 500 web sites.

Unfortunately, with the market decline, there was no interest in this property. The property has functional obsolescence being that it only has 2 bedrooms, a 1 car garage and sits on a "back flag" lot. With over 1200 homes available in Poinciana and only 30-40 selling per month this property was being overlooked. We slowly started lowering the price, however, trying to avoid getting into a short sale situation, we were not able to price the property low enough for the market to be interested.

Finally, the Seller, due to the hardship outlined in her letter, had to vacate the home. As hard as she tried to keep the house she could no longer afford to live there. At that time, we reduced the price to $109,000 then slowly reduced every 2 weeks until there was an interest. There were NO showings until we reduced to $59,000. Several days after reducing to this price we received and accepted the attached contract.

There has not been a 2 bedroom home that has sold, on the Osceola County side of Poinciana, since August and there has only been 2 in the last 4 months.

Based on current market conditions and the fact that this property is not only functionally obsolete but also a short sale, we feel the agreed purchase price of $60,000 is far better than the price the property will sell for if it is foreclosed on and placed back on the market. We have done everything possible to get as high a purchase price as the market will bare.

I have 14 years experience as a Broker specializing in selling Poinciana property and on behalf of Ms. Bertha request that Country Wide accept this short sale so we can move forward towards closing.

Please fee free to contact me with any questions or additional information that you may need. Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.