The Anatomy of a Short Sale – Part 4
January 19th, 2010 Categories: Home Selling, Northern Virginia Basics
So here we are – exhausted, worn out, scared… the homeowner is now in dire straits. Feeling no way out; feeling defeated, deflated… remember what I said in my last post, “This is where you are, not who you are…” This does not define you – it is what it is – now let’s figure out how to fix it.
If you haven’t read the posts leading up to this, I suggest you do that first. (Short Sale Part 1) (Short Sale Part 2) (Short Sale Part 3)
As as a homeowner, finding yourself in this situation, where do you turn for help and advice? Where do you turn for answers? Where do you turn for a solution?
I have, as I’ve admitted before, stayed away from handling short sales (on both the buyer and the listing sides) because I’ve felt ill-equipped to manage them and that’s generally how I run my business. If it’s an area I’m not comfortable with or a process I’m unfamiliar with, I’d rather refer you to a competent colleague rather than try to muddle through it myself. But I’ve just been introduced to a great group of people here in the Northern Virginia area who have decided that there IS a better way for these sellers – there IS a better solution and there IS a better process. And for this reason, I have decided to affiliate with this group so that I may offer my assistance to those homeowners in need with the utmost in professionalism.
As a seller, if you choose to go down this path with me, there will be some added requirements of you:
- you will be asked to retain counsel and this will cost you some money ($2,000-$3,000); but this attorney will be working for YOU (what a concept); they will take over all of the negotiations with your lender (or lenders); they will field the calls, they will help once a contract has been obtained on your home to put you in the best possible position for your sale to be approved quickly and efficiently
- you will be asked to escrow $1,000-$1,500 with the attorney to give the prospective buyer some assurances that you are working as hard as you can to get their offer through and in return, the buyer will agree (by signing an addendum) to remove all contingencies (most importantly the appraisal and the home inspection contingencies) so that your attorney can present to the bank a contingent free contract that is ready to settle WITH A BUYER APPRAISAL as a true testament to market value and the validity of your contract. I can’t stress enough how important this is to the process. The bank can’t argue with this!!
- you will be asked to establish a pricing strategy to actually obtain a contract on your home. If that means establishing price reductions up front at regular intervals in order to reach the appropriate market value, than so be it. After all, if your lender is willing to accept less than what you owe, what difference is it to you whether it’s $50,000 or $90,000? It’s short – so drop that price until the market tells you it’s right
- you will be asked to provide all of your financial data up front to your attorney, so that they may establish UP FRONT your eligibility to even obtain a short sale; they will get all of this paperwork out of the way so as to remove any possible stumbling blocks that may arise after months of hard work, waiting, worrying, etc…
When the attorneys are finally assigned a negotiator for your case, whether that’s in 2 months, or 5 months or even longer, with the appropriate preparation, documentation, expectations, etc… you will be in the very best of hands and preparation is the best way to deal with all of the strain of the process. I will be here largely to do what I do best: get a contract on your home and to help support you through the process. The attorneys are involved to do what THEY do best; and these guys, this is ALL they do; so they are well versed in the ins/outs of this extremely challenging process.
The bottom line is this:
- Preparation, Education, Preparation
- Surround yourself with the best support you can
- Start EARLY; it doesn’t hurt anything or anyone to discuss the potential, the possibilities
- have realistic expectations
If you think you might be headed in this direction, call me. It’s a phone call and I’m here to help.
I hope you’ve found my series on Short Sales helpful; there’s SO much information and so many more details that I didn’t delve into, but if you have further questions, please don’t hesitate to call. And whatever you do, please don’t wait until it’s too late! Please try to help me help YOU!
Jennifer
Copyright © 2007 Arlington Dirt Real Estate 
What an awesome series! Thanks for the continued excellent posts:)
Natalie @ 220
[...] “The Anatomy of a Short Sale – Part IV,” the Arlington Dirt, January 19, 2010. Jennifer does a great job of connecting with her readers on what is going to happen if they hire her to do a short sale. Nice blog design, but still images would have spruced up this blog post. [...]