I've been coming across a few homes lately, where the homeowners have died and it would seem the next of kin are just letting them go to foreclosure. I imagine that there is really no benefit, or drawback for survivors to sell them. How would I go about doing a short sale on these homes? What would be the required documentaion, besides a death certificate? Could I possibly get someone some relocation money? Other than that, I don't know how I could market the benefits of taking on the process. If a house is upside down and going to foreclosure, can the bank pursue the estate for any deficiencies?
Thanks for your input.
Rob
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I appreciate everyone's comments. Thanks for the input!
Had a short sale recently where the lender kept asking for the signature of the deceased and no matter how many times they have been told they are dead the negotiator insists on one. I think it's finally escalated to the point where they have it figured out but the estate is ready to just let it go to foreclosure as they are emotionally wrung out by the process.
HI Cindy - I just had a short sale where the Homeowner is Deceased and the 1st Lien is with Wells Fargo and 2nd was with SLS - each time the 1st / 2nd lien holder asked for a "seller" document to be submitted I simply sent the death certificate to them. When I had to complete the online Equator tasks for Wells Fargo and they asked for Sellers address I wrote in the word "Heaven" - hardship letter request and bank statements etc... I sent death cert. etc etc....I did the same thing for the 2nd lien holder - under every cover sheet for bank statements, hardship, taxes, etc I simply put the death certificate - 3 weeks of doing this and BOTH lien holders sent me an approval letter for the short sale....I am sure this is not typical and my negotiators had a sense of humor - because what else can you do with this situation - the wife did have POA to sign contract, listing etc - she did not want to let property foreclose as she thought that would be disrespectful to her husbands memory - so we did have the representative of his Estate (his wife) able to sign all documents. If there is a representative or Executor of the Estate with Power of Attorney you should be able to have them sign and then just be sure you have a clear copy of the Death Certificate - I have completed negotiations succesfully on about 20 of these types of deals where the primary borrower is deceased - the Estate of the Deceased (family) wants to usually do the right thing and as long as they have Power of Attorney for the Estate it usually can be approved.
I have a similar deal where the probate has appointed a PR, although their are next of kin, they apparently have no interest in property, so the court is appointing a special PR an attorney, just to be the defendant and answer the legal complaints to move it through the fore closure process.
Can I initiate a short sale using the attorney, if they were willing to? or can I have a next of kin step in as representative?
thanks!
Great way to handle it Monique. It is our job to show the bank negotiators how to approve a deal.
That was brilliant, Monique. Sellers address = Heaven made me chuckle.
Monique--
That sounds like the perfect way to handle it. I'm going to keep that in mind. Thanks for sharing.
Here is a classic example of lenders being run by computerized system demands. If loan processors/underwriters and all of the above actually THOUGHT during this process, they would never ask for something as impossible as the signature from a deceased property owner. The fact that they kept asking is simply ridiculous. How do they expect sane professionals to be able to negotiate successful transactions with "loan requirements" like that!?
Find out who is the PR for the estate. Do a short sale package the same way, although no owners financials.
M