Short sales and avoiding foreclosure

Another House Hits the Growing Shadow Inventory

Today’s post is a true story that chronicles what is wrong with the world of banking, mortgages, and that population of homeowners who are all upside down through no fault of their own. I won’t be describing someone who got a “no verification/no documentation” loan, or someone who was given a mortgage to buy a house that was far outside of their means. This is a story of a hard-working woman who was affected by the downturn in our economy. She suffered a decline in earnings and was forced to sell a home she could no longer afford by doing a short sale.

To protect her identity, I’m going to call her Nancy, and tell you that her house was located in Charlotte, NC – even though it was located quite far from there. This is Nancy’s story, minus many personally identifiable details.

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7 Common Misunderstandings About Short Sales

I’ve been keeping a mental list of some of the common misunderstandings buyers, homeowners and some Realtors have about the short sale process. Today I asked myself why I was keeping this stuff all in my head and I didn’t have a good answer. So here are 7 common misunderstandings about the short sale process.Continue Reading

How Freddie Mac Creates Short Sale Stalemates

In our dealings with various loan services as part of a short sale process, there is a disturbing trend happening as it relates to second lien positions. We are clearly not alone in observing this situation as is obvious from the many frustrating questions on the subject in various real estate forums. The trend isContinue Reading

Three Ideas for Avoiding Short Sale Counter-Offers

So often these days, loan servicers are coming back with counter-offers on short sales. These are some of my theories about counter-offers, why they happen, and how to handle them. Value In doing a short sale, it is all about perceived value as it is with any real estate transaction. The servicer is trying toContinue Reading

If The CEO Only Knew

In the crazy world of short sales, very little surprises me any more. Until this week. We received a counter-offer on a Bank of America short sale. This is not surprising at all. They counter offers all the time – all the servicers do. What made our mouths drop to the floor and had usContinue Reading