When you short sale your house that means your house is worth less than what you owe. You are hoping that the bank will take less than what it is worth. The bank will decide if it is better to foreclose or take less. There could also be a second loan on the house which will make the process that much tougher.
I think most agents do this process backwards as they list the house and wait for an offer until they submit the package to the bank. The process can take anywhere from 2 to 6 plus months to get an answer from the bank. Most buyers cannot and will not wait that long for an answer. If the buyer backs out after 2,3,4 months then you have to start over. It could take years for the process to end. That is why I have teamed up with special negotiators that will negotiate the sale of your house right away and not wait for a buyer to make an offer. Also, there is a misnoamer out there that the seller has to be late on his/her payments for a bank to consider a short sale. There are alot of agents out there who have no idea what they are doing and it can cost you time and heartache. You need to get with a professional agent who knows what he/she is doing. I belong to the top5agent program which means I am in the top 10% of agents in the area. Please see www.Top5inrealestate.com for more information on what makes me a top5 agent.
In a short sale you cannot walk away with any monies from the sale, but are free the “non recourse” debt against the home. A short sale is not like a foreclosure. A foreclosure is very detrimental to your credit score. A short sale is not reported on a credit reportbut is usually reported as “debt settled” which is less damaging to one’s credit. Plus I have credit specialists that can help with your credit once the short sale takes place.
