What to do after Bank recommends a short sale

I routinely get inquiries from home owners who are seeking relief from their mortgage.  The scenario is similar in each case:

• Heavily upside down value versus amount owed.
• Current on payments but barely.
• Some form of hardship in the past few years that has caused mega-stress on the finances from then till now.

So the home owners call the bank for assistance.

The bank representation is friendly, kind, and happily recommends the home owners apply for a modification.  The home owners are happy too.... finally their is light at the end of the tunnel.

Next isn't quite as good.  The happy, easy process turns into months of back and forth.   Every time they call the bank, they get a new person that often has no clue as to what's going on with that personal home owner's file.  They get transferred from bank rep to bank rep.  They are asked to submit or resubmit bank statements, pay stubs, etc., over and over again.  They sit on hold for hours listening to happy marketing crap that would make even the most relaxed angry.

At the end of this grueling process, what happens?  Nothing.  The bank can't refinance the home due to some ridiculous reason.....often one of these:

• Owners make too much money
• Owners don't make enough money
• House is too upside down
• House is not upside down enough
• Owners are current on payments
• Owners are behind on payments

Now, finally after months and sometimes a year worth of pain.......................

The bank rep recommends a Short Sale.

Once you get to this point, you really only have 2 decisions to make.  Either you want to keep the house or you don't.  Make that decision first, and everything else will fall in line.

Once you decide to Short Sale.  You must first find a short sale REALTOR in Jacksonville who has the specialized knowledge to complete a short sale.  Check out our Short Sale Services.  This is not easy as many REALTORS are avoiding shorts sales, or are too new in the business, or are part time in the business.

The bank makes a short sale sound sound easy, but in fact it is much more difficult than even the loan modification.  Therefore, we highly recommend the use of an attorney to process and negotiate with the bank on your behalf.  If your REALTOR is doing this without an attorney....run away!  In my professional opinion, a short sale is a legal process that has binding legal consequences, therefore you should want and require legal representation.

If you are at this point, you will need to complete a short sale consultation.  Please contact our office via the form below and we'd be happy provide a free consult.