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Are you feeling overwhelmed in your home and mortgage? You are not alone. Many are feeling the same problem and it is growing in numbers.

Both the Military and Fannie Mae have set up web pages to help you through the maze and give you the options that may be available to you to either save your home or complete a short sale.

The short sale does allow you to sell your home for less than what you owe so that the home is not foreclosed. While this is a good option for many, it does have it drawbacks and you need to understand what it entails. Therefore you need to discuss this with an attorney, a CPA, and most important of all a SHORT SALE Specialist such as the SHORT SALE SUPERSTARS.

We have even managed to help our clients save their homes, avoid foreclosure and sale with a small amount of cash out of pocket avoiding a short sale and another actually walk away with cash on a sale that the bank wanted as a short sale.

Please get advice from a TRAINED SHORT SALE SPECIALIST in your area. If you decide to complete a SHORT SALE, your success is determined by how well the listing agent can present to the bank. The banks are overwhelmed and need to have a good trained expert present the packet.

GET HELP NOW.

For many distressed home sellers, the term "BPO' is totally greek. Sadly enough, it doesn't ring a bell with many Realtors either. What's more disturbing is that very few Realtors consider the significance or the power of someone else (who's probably traveled for more than 30 miles away) taking a look at your property and giving their opinion of what it would sell for in today's market....sounds simple, right??? It's much more complicated than that.

The reality is that the fate of your client's property (and financial future) may rest upon this single, solitary number...because when that figure lands in the hands of your negotiator on a short sale, it's considered GOLDEN....regardless of whether or not the BPO agent searched all MLS databases for your area for comps or not, or whether they even slowed their car down long enough to actually take a photo or not....it's your negotiator's only link between your offer and the perceived value of your listing. So, what do you do?? I'm so glad that you asked....

1) Remove all access portals to your property - Make it imperative that the person completing the BPO go through you for access and DISCUSS, DISCUSS, DISCUSS the property with the agent. Provide them with a copy of your very own BPO so that they can compare. Many times, if a lender has a pre-existing BPO for a property and a second BPO comes in with a value that's significantly different, a third BPO will be ordered.

2) Submit YOUR very own BPO to the lender along with your highest and best offer. Make sure that your comps are as close to your property in size, condition, age, location, and lot size as humanly possible.

3) ASK, ASK, ASK the BPO agent about their value opinion. To be totally honest, most BPO providers don't even read the fine print where it states that their not supposed to discuss value with anyone other than the requestor. TRY IT ANYWAY!!!

4) DON'T STEER....DISCUSS!!! Don't try to overwhelm or impress the other agent with your vast knowledge of market activity. Humble yourself and actually have a conversation with the other person. It's true, you'll actually catch more bees with honey.

I can't stress enough the importance of completing a BPO on your listing. Use it as as leverage in negotiating with the buyer's agent. Use it in discussing your opinion of value to the loss negotiator. Use it to line the bird cage....just USE IT!!!

This is my first BofA SS to negotiate...... Its has all gone fairly smooth considering its an FHA deal so we have not had to deal with Equator...THANK GOD!

We received our HUD 90045 today stating net price $220k which is 88% of appraised value of $250k. Listed property 4/24/10 (over 60 days on market and this is our only offer). Purcahse Offer $200k. Per HUD guidelines: Properties listed over 60 days should reflect 84% of appraised value....which still is not where we need to be. Should I dispute the appraisal and if so, whats the best strategy?

Also, we are a 3rd party negotiator and need our fee to be on the HUD...where or how should we list this?

Any help is GREATLY appreciated!!!!

I am in my 4th year of doing pretty much nothing but short sales and I have never run into a bank that is so unreasonable as US Bank.We have an original purchase money first wuth Chase and a refi 2nd with US Bank of $46K. The cash from the refi paid for the kitchen remodel that was done. Seller got married and then husband was relocated to another state for work. Both are short selling in CA.

I thought this would be pretty easy with the first being original purchase funds in CA and the second being such a small amount. However, US Bank is refusing to even consider doing a non-deficient short sale and states that we need a HUD with a minimum of $5K to them and the seller agreeing to pay the entire deficiency amount before they will even look at the short sale package we submitted three and a half months ago. Seller is not willing to pay them anything more than we can get them from the net proceeds or contributions of the other parties in the transaction and is now willing to let this go to foreclosure and just let them chase her for the monies if they will not cooperate. I already have Chase and the parties involved prepared to give the second $12K, 25% of balance owed, but we still have the issue with them wanting the seller to agree to pay-off the deficient amount before they will look at it.

Has anyone gotten a non-deficient short sale with US Bank in second position? If so, what is your trick? I tried emailing the CEO, CFO and a few others, but no response. I will try the escalaltion contacts given when I am back in the office tomorrow.

The seller is making less money now that she is in Colorado than she was here and she can no longer afford to make the payments on this property...stopped a couple months ago,so we are not dealing with a seller who can keep paying on his property.

Your help is much appreciated!
-Robin

"Don and Wendi Sheets did a great job at selling our house. We had it on the market for a year and half when we hired them, they came in and gave us realistic advise and ideas. We nearly lost the house to foreclosure but they helped us through a short sale situation and saved us $30,000 in process. They are a no nonsense team with a ton on knowledge in short sales. We are very grateful for all the work that was put into selling our house. Thanks, Don and Wendi!" Burgess, Milford OH

Well this one was not easy. Sun Trust took 11 months to approve this Short Sale! Nine of those were
waiting on the file to be assigned to a negotiator. During this time we
lost 2 buyers and finally found one to stick.....I thought. About 3
weeks ago I received the approval to close. Even though I had
communicated with the Buyer's agent every week for the last 9 months I
found out a week before closing that the Buyer had changed his mind!!!

So....I had to place the property back on the market as an "approved short sale".

We needed a cash buyer that could close in 7 days at the full asking price. Luckily we found one.
Lolita' Clay from Exit Realty brought a full price cash Buyer and they
closed today. 3 days before the Short Sale approvals expired. Way to go
Lolita!!!

Property:

4 bedroom 2 bath condo in Legacy Dunes. Legacy Dunes is a Short term rental community about 5 minutes from the
main gate of Disney World in Orlando Florida. The condo was purchased in
July 2006 for a whooping $335,400!! We sold it yesterday, 4 years
later, for..........$60,000!!! That's a decrease in value of 82%.

Hardship:

Loss of income

Liens:

1st with Sun Trust for $269,150. Settled for $62,183 or $.23 cents on the dollar.

2nd with Sun Trust for $30,350. Settled for $10,973 or $.64 cents on the dolllar

HOA lien for $6,000. Received full payment from the Seller.

Details:

The Seller had to contribute $17,500 to Sun Trust plus had to pay the $6,000 to the HOA. No promissory note and Sun Trust issued a Waiver of
Deficiency for both liens.

Another successful Central Florida Short Sale by Tutas Towne Realty!!

Are you facing foreclosure on your Sun Trust Mortgage? If so........

Do NOT be foreclosed on! Avoid foreclosure. Short Sales DO close.

Want to find out more? www.CentralFloridaShortSales.com

Beautiful 3 bdrm/ 2 bth family home with rocking chair from porch originally sold on July 19, 2010 for $109,829.00. Our short sale approval timeline is as follows:

June 9, 2010 - Submitted short sale paperwork to lender along with offer and preliminary HUD-1

July 15, 2010 - BPO assigned to area agent.

July 22, 2010 - BPO received by lender.

July 23, 2010 - File assigned to negotiator.

July 27, 2010 - Negotiator conducts phone interview with seller.

July 29, 2010 - Short sale approval received!!!

Original Loan Amount - $ 109,829.00
Short Sale Purchase Price - $ 48,637.00
Amt of waived deficiency - $ 61,192.00

For years, the term “short sale” has been the antithesis of the real estate market….from holding your breath for seemingly an eternity waiting for a loss negotiator to let you know whether or not you’ve reached their “golden figure” to wondering whether or not the listing agent is acting as an automatic offer vessel funneling as many offers to the lender as humanly possible. Let’s face it, for so long it was the “Wild, Wild West” of the real estate industry.

Then, all of a sudden, lenders (and Realtors) began to actually conceptualize the idea that the notion of selling properties for less than the actual mortgage note could actually work…..as long as processes were made SOP on the lender’s end and education became more common throughout the real estate industry. Since I’m a HUGE fan of the FHA Pre-Foreclosure Sales Program, I’m focusing on the benefits of this program from a different angle….the buyer’s perspective! Here are a few ways that this program works to assist the home buyer:

1) Upfront terms – One major benefit, from a buying standpoint, is that these sales are “pre-approved”. Not only that, but HUD has mandated a “sliding scale” of what their net profit would have to be based upon the length of market time! Now, the selling agent is able to adequately calculate exactly where your offer needs to be in order to get the deal to the table!

2) Closing costs assistance – Although HUD advertises that they’ll concede up to 1% of the purchase price for closing costs assistance. Ask your negotiator to request a variance for up to 3% in closing costs. It can be done and most of the variance requests are APPROVED as long as their desired net is met.

3) Appraisal costs – If you’re purchasing an FHA Pre-Foreclosure sales program property with an FHA mortgage, then you can bet your bottom dollar that an FHA certified appraisal has already been completed on the property. In fact, since that appraisal has already been assigned an FHA case number, then it’s married to the property for the next six months. The bottom line is that your buyer can save the expense of the appraisal since one has already been completed on the home!

It’s pretty clear that we’ll be dealing with an increased number of short sales for the next few years. So, removing the stigma is a must so that we can reduce the number of boarded abandoned properties and maintain a semblance of communal appeal within our neighborhoods.

here is my horrer story...

2 banks were involved, placed an offer on october 2009 on this short sale property. this property was orginially in the market as a short sale from june 2009,

at one point 1st bank ordered a BPO ( internal), and 3 weeks letter they ask us if we close in 4 days ( that was end of april 2010). we were not ready, however at the same time first bank reealize that there is 2nd bank involved.. i am not sure why sellers agent did not work with 2nd bank before??

anyway, finaly we negotiate with 2nd bank and got ther approval which is good until end of the month.. they might extend it.. when we got the approval letter from 2nd bank we provided it to first bank and ask the approval from their side ( remember, at one point they wanted us to close in 4 days, however, at that time they did not gave us an approval letter).. it has been 3 weeks since we are pleading first bank to give us an approval ( at that time the negotiator ask our ( buyer) finiancial statement and check if the seller has any other loans ( which i belive he has none) and we realize that last week they completed seconed BPO ( internal). which was done on sunday.. ( On top of that the negotitor of the first bank had no idea about this BPO, so i guess some intertnal department of bank orderd that)

now how long it will take to get the approval from the first bank? or will they approve or not??

in this case what should i do to expediate this sale?

what can my agent ( buyers agend) should do and what can sellers agent needs to do to get this thing done?

i feel like i will have heart attack.. it has been more than 9 months.

help please.... belive me i am dieing but at the same time i am thinking i have spend more than 9 months waiting for this? should i walk away?

help please

Has anyone worked or closed a short sale with Primary Financial Services, LLC based in Phoenix AZ? They are the collection company Wells Fargo Home Equity sells off to. I'm working a file where Wells is the 1st and PFS is the 2nd. Wells has agreed to pay 10% or $8K to PFS, but PFS wants 20% or $16K. I'm looking for a good contact to escalate to or for any ideas you may have. This is a CA purchase money deal so there is no recourse against the seller. PFS stands to lose a lot of money if this goes to foreclosure. Your comments are appreciated.

Thanks!

Ryan Smith

Again, we were shocked but excited by the Short Sale Approval letter language waiving Bank of America’s and its investor’s right to pursue further judgment or deficiency after the short sale. In the interest of educating and of determining what type of Bank of America short sale may result in a deficiency waiver, let’s take a look at the details that lead to the approval.

The original loan amount was $220,562.00 and was taken by two sisters in order to purchase a Fort Myers home. Early in 2010, one sister lost substantial income and was not able to contribute her share of the payment. The other sister could not afford the entire payment on her own. Because of the hardship, the sisters listed the property for sale in early June. The received an offer on June 7, 2010 and the file was initiated through the Equator system on June 11. Incredibly, the file was approved in just 29 business days from the date of the Equator initiation!

A copy of the approval letter has been made available. In it you will find that the approved offer price was $60,000.00. Total closing costs were not to exceed $7,003.17, including realtor commissions capped at 6% or $3,600. Bank of America’s investor’s approved net was $52,996.83, or roughly 24% of its original loan. The approval letter contained sections dedicated to Promissory Notes and Cash Contributions; but neither were applicable in this situation and the sellers were not required to sign a Promissory Note or make a cash contribution at closing.

We have also made available the only Deficiency Evaluation Tool (DET) we have ever seen. In fact, we just Googled “Deficiency Evaluation Tool” and got only one unrelated hit. We are working with Bank of America to find out more about the DET, but on its face its title seems to do a fine job of describing the DET’s use. It seems that Fannie Mae (FNMA) and/or Bank of America will use this tool and its questions to determine whether it should waive the approval’s deficiency language or not. Here are the questions along with the answers related to our transaction:

1. Select state in which property is located (ok…not really a question, but it’s there!) [Florida]
2. Owner Occupancy: Was the home owner occupied at the time of the origination? [Yes]
3. Purchase money: Did the first lien finance the home purchase? [Yes]
4. Is the first-lien investor non-delegated? [No] (we do not understand what this means and are working on an answer)
5. Is there a BAC second lien? [No Second Lien]
6. Is there a mortgage insurer (MI)? [No MI]
7. Is FNMA (Fannie Mae) the investor? [Yes]
8. Have we received an appropriate contribution, or has FNMA agreed to close without a contribution? [Yes]

Based on the DET we received and the answers provided, it may be safe to create a checklist for determining the likelihood of deficiency waivers for Bank of America-servicedFNMA loans.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call me at (230) 985-4142.

- Chris

Until 7/21/2010, our office had never received a Bank of America short sale approval letter that relieved the borrower from future liability or from the pursuit of the deficiency after the short sale. In what hopefully marks a meaningful shift in Bank of America’s handling of post-short sale deficiency issues, Winged Foot Title received a Short Sale Approval Letter from Bank of America that waived its and the investor’s “rights to pursue further judgment or deficiency.”

If you have been involved in an approved Bank of America short sale, then you are likely aware of what has been the company line on borrowers’ future liability. To wit, the standard language has been: “BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP and/or its investors may pursue a deficiency judgment for the difference in the payment received and the total balance due, unless agreed otherwise or prohibited by law, if the short sale closes on the loan referenced above.”

The deficiency language in the letter is significantly different. It reads:

“Upon receipt of the agreed amount, BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP, and/or its investors will waive the remaining balance due on the above referenced loan and release the borrower from further obligation therein, and waive all rights to pursue further judgment or deficiency.”

We were admittedly shocked by the language in this letter. Winged Foot Title’s Short Sale Title Solutions Team has orchestrated a hundred or so Bank of America short sales over the last two years. Because of the previously standard deficiency language, we have made a point to make available to listing agents and their short sellers copies of prior approval letters from Bank of America so that the sellers’ expectations would be set correctly in advance of delving into the short sale process. This letter, unique as it may be (it is the first and only we have received), may signal a shift in Bank of America’s deficiency standards. At this point, we are hard pressed to shout that out loud. What we can say with confidence is that under certain circumstances, Bank of America and certain investors may at least be making ad hoc deficiency evaluations and determining on a case by case basis whether or not to retain the rights to pursue further judgment or deficiency.

Winged Foot Title is busy compiling the details leading up to this potentially groundbreaking approval letter and will share them as quickly as possible.

Stay tuned...

Finding the Short Sale Superstars have been like taking a deep breath of air. I have read till I'm seeing double and still want more. The knowledge that is shared on this site is priceless. I get the reassurance that I really do know what I'm doing. I just needed to bounce it off of someone that has had the same experience. As you all well know, there's not ever one deal the same, but close. So when you question yourself, just ask one of the Superstars and you'll get the accalades that you deserve. No one else knows the pain and joy we feel helping our clients.

Thanks Superstars

Hi ..We are looking for a really good SS management software program?

Ideally we would like it to have the capability to track the sale and a calendar timeline with reminders, have a running communication log, forms to access. file information and documents storage, analysis spreadsheet, contact database and maybe fax capability ...etc. Dreaming about that program that has all the buzzers and bells...maybe could cook dinner too!! ;-)

This looks like a great group for networking about Short Sales.

How can I tell how many members are here total as part of Short Sale Superstars?

Chad.