Real Estate Selling

Helpful Information for the Real Estate Seller.

Real Estate Selling

How To Define Short Sale In The Simplest Terms

Jul. 7th, 2009
in Real Estate
by Submission

Bookmark and Share

Subscribe

How do you define short sale? The legal definition of a short sale is a sale of property in which the proceeds from the sale fall short of the balance owed on the loan that was secured to buy the property, initially. That definition may not really help you out, so let’s see if we can explain this further.

You secure a loan to purchase a home. Unfortunately, these days, it’s hard to make ends meet and houses are foreclosing all over. When you get behind on your mortgage payments and end up in default status, your bank will contact you. Typically, they will let you know that your home is in pre-foreclosure status. This is their last ditch effort to get you to pay the back amount owed before they begin foreclosure proceedings.

Many times, a bank will work with a home owner in this situation. If you have a solid financial history with the lending institution that you have your home loan with, there may be hope. You can attempt to work with the bank in a number of ways. You may be able to get the bank to forgive one or more missed payments and have them charge you only the interest. They may allow you to put missed payments on the back end of the loan.

This is not the same as a refinance. This is basically a gift of grace by the bank. Refinance is your next option. If you have not gotten too far behind on your house payments and the rest of your bills, you may qualify for a mortgage refinance. You can actually lower your monthly payments with a refinance loan.

A refinance loan will extend the term of your loan but give you lower monthly payments and may even put money in your pocket. You may also try to qualify for a second mortgage if you have the vision of what is coming far enough in advance. Be careful you do not end up getting yourself in worse financial troubles than you are already in with this kind of loan.

If you’re unable to get a refinance loan or second mortgage, your best bet is to try to get a personal loan from a friend or family member to carry you through. Recent times seem to have everyone strapped for cash so you may not have much luck here, either.

When you have no options left, your best bet is a short sale. This will keep your property from going into foreclosure. In a short sale, your property is listed on the real estate market just like a normal sale. However, prospective buyers know that this is a pre foreclosure situation and will make bids on your home that are lower than the amount you still owe on the house. It’s in your best interest to get the highest bid possible before approaching the lender.

If the lender accepts the bid and all parties agree, the closing will go through on the house. At this point in time, the bank accepts the amount that the new owner has paid towards your debt. While a short sale does not let you walk away unscathed, this looks much better on your credit than a foreclosure.

Need to Define Short Sale? All you need to know and more about Short Sales at http://www.nphsrealestate.org/How-to-short-sale

[tags]Define Short Sale, Short Sale, Sale,[/tags]

Bookmark and Share     Subscribe

Similar Posts