San Antonio Short Sale Experts
If you have fallen behind on your monthly mortgage payments and you don’t know where to turn, you may consider a short sale.
You never thought you’d see yourself in this precarious situation, but here you are, unable to continue paying your monthly mortgage payments. Regardless of why you are struggling — a change in your home loan’s interest rate, an illness, the loss of a job or a divorce — you know you must do something to prevent a foreclosure and the ruined credit and stress that goes along with it.
Here is what you need to know about a short sale:
- A short sale is NOT the same thing as a foreclosure, and they are viewed very differently when it comes to your credit.
- Most individuals choose a short sale because they owe more money on their home than it is worth. For example, if you owe $400,000 on your mortgage, but your home was valued at just $300,000, you may consider a short sale instead of a traditional sale; particularly if you don’t have the cash to come up with the difference between your home loan and the amount you receive from the sale of your home.
- When a company handles your short sale, they will also handle all the negotiations with your lender, thereby relieving you from a considerable amount of stress. You may choose to work through an attorney who can handle all proposals from your lender. During this time, it is critical that you have an expert in short sales behind you to ensure the transaction is handled properly, from beginning to end.
- After your home’s short sale, your credit will be adversely affected, but not like a foreclosure. Homeowners with foreclosures on their records cannot expect to obtain a mortgage for as long as seven years, while a homeowner who sold their home through a short sale may be able to obtain another mortgage in as little as two years.
- Most banks will agree to a short sale because, although they will ultimately lose money on the deal, it doesn’t hold a candle to the time and expense of a foreclosure. In other words, the lender will almost always choose the lesser of the two evils. If you aren’t able to make payments or work out some kind of payment reduction with your lender, the next logical move is usually a short sale.
- You don’t need to be in financial ruins to do a short sale on your home. Even if you are in fear of falling behind on your payments because of some type of financial or personal emergency, you may be able to sell your home through a short sale. If your lender does not take your request for a short sale seriously, you may have to actually skip a month or two of mortgage payments to get their attention. Once you have accomplished this, you will want to fill out a short sale packet with your lender. Your packet will include, among other things, a letter of financial hardship and a financial worksheet.
You will likely work with the loss mitigation department of your lender throughout the short sale process, but it is ultimately up to you to find a qualified real estate company to market and handle the sale of your home through a short sale. It is important to understand that not all real estate companies are the same when it comes to handling short sales; so it pays to do your research and find a company that is skilled in handling short sales.
