Short Sales are not short as the name suggest.  Often called "Long Sales", they are notoriously slow and seem to take forever to get to the closing table.

You can speed this up by reducing the first phase of a short sale:  the amount of time that the home is on the market (selling it faster).

Steps to sell your Jacksonville Short Sale FASTER

  1. Work with Professionals: Hire a REALTOR who knows Short Sales & knows how to market your house appropriately:  Meet Brad.  Hire an attorney who specializes in Short Sales.
  2. Curb Appeal: Trim hedges & trees.  Cut your grass weekly.  Water the hedges and yard.  Plant flowers.  Get rid of any unsightly items in the yard.
  3. CLEAN: Clean the inside of the home above and beyond your normal standards.
  4. Clean…

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Through the last 2 years of becoming very fluent in Short Sales, I've started seeing a growing trend in the cost for doing a short sale.  The cost have gone up.....a little.

5 legitimate expenses for doing a short sale based on experience.

  1. Attorney Fees: $500 to retain the Short Sale Attorney.  The attorney's office also charges your bank an additional $1500.  The additional fee is paid from the closing cost that the bank pays from the sale proceeds.  DO NOT attempt a short sale without legal representation.
  2. Repair Items: All the sale contracts that I do are AS IS, however I've been involved in several deals where the seller had to put up some repair money in order for the buyer to get the loan.  It's not something you want to do obviously,…

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A very smart man with plenty of time on his hands, just spent a year trying to track his own mortgage.  I originally heard about this from Fox News, and then found the chart below on ZeroHedge.  Trying to figure this out is nearly impossible.  This is why Short Sales take forever and have become increasingly complex.  A big take away from this chart:  It's not possible to "just call the bank and get an answer".

The chart verifies 4 important take aways for home owners who need to Short Sale:

  1. You need legal representation on your side.
  2. You need a REALTOR who works Short Sales daily.
  3. You need to start the process of a Short Sale sooner rather than later.
  4. You need patience.

5 questions Short Sale home buyers and their real estate…

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Banks agree to take a less than is owed on the mortgage due to a financial hardship on the Seller.  To do this, banks go through a valuation process to determine the market value of the real estate being sold.  In my professional opinion, the valuation process is flawed, but that's an article for another day.

Banks will not take low ball offers on a Short Sale in Jacksonville

It just won't happen unless there is a reason for the property to be sold for much less than the market value.  Examples that could cause low ball offers to be accepted:

  • House has had a fire
  • House has no kitchen, bath, carpet, doors, etc.
  • Mold has overtaken house
  • Major foundation problems
  • Flooded recently
  • Roof leaks causing destruction

For your normal…

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It's Time to Stop Shopping and Start Making Offers

Working on behalf of the Home Seller, I am present at many of the showings as buyer's agents bring their buyers through the seller's home.  I do this as a service for the waterfront real estate owners in Jacksonville, Ponte Vedra, St Augustine, and Orange Park.  I want to make sure the home is presented at it's best, and I want to answer questions about the property and get immediate feedback from the buyers.  I also want to ask every showing to make an offer regardless of their feedback, and see if we can't put together a deal that makes since for both parties.

Being present at the showings, I see a lot of frustrated home buyers and frustrated buyer's agents looking at  30, 60, even 100 houses…

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