Short Sales in Port St. Lucie
We have been working short sales for over three years in the Port St. Lucie / Stuart area. Short sales have many variables that determine their success rate. Some of these variables are whether the borrower has one or two mortgages on the property, who the mortgage holder is, how patient the buyer is in waiting out the process, and whether the Realtor, attorney, or loss access mitigator has experience, knowledge, and experience in the short sale arena.
We just closed two short sales this week. One with Wachovia, now Wells Fargo, which took a mere 3 1/2 weeks to get the approval of the seller’s lender. Everything went swiftly and smoothly from beginning to closing. The seller walked away after it was all over, relieved that she had avoided a foreclosure and could move on with her life. Since the property had been her primary residence, the IRS will not charge her taxes on the forgiven debt – the difference in what her lender accepted as a payoff and what she owed (check with your CPA to see if this applies to you). Her lender will report it to the credit bureaus as “paid satisfactorily but not in full”, which is much better than a foreclosure on her credit reports and a judgement for the full amount owed, had she not completed the short sale.
The second short sale this week had two loans with Bank of America. This one began on April 4th and was an arduous, tedious, and trying experience. We knew that each processor had a workload of 750 to 1,000 files and that the fax machines could not handle the daily influx of short sale packages. Once we were assigned a negotiator and the appraisal was done, we knew we had reached a milestone in the process, at least with Bank of America. These first time buyers closed in time to get their $8,000 tax credit and got a great price on a home. The sellers, on the other hand, avoided a foreclosure and now can put this behind them and move on.
The long hours we’ve put in on short sales and the frustration we’ve often experienced have been worth it to see how the sellers feel when they finally know that foreclosure is not hanging over their head. If you are at risk of foreclosure, please be upfront with your lender, don’t bury your head in the sand and hope it will go away. The more you show your lender that you are trying, the better the chances are that they will work with you on a short sale. When interviewing Realtors, ask for references. There are no designations, or training that can take the place of experience when it comes to short sale negotiations. The average short sale package can be over 150 pages and if one item is missing, the bank will throw the whole thing out.
photo credit: Dr Stephen Dann
If you would like to discuss buying or selling a short sale in Port St. Lucie, Stuart, Jensen Beach, Palm City, Traditions, or anywhere on the Treasure Coast of Florida with us, please give us a call at 800-876-3535, or fill out this short form and we will contact you. All conversations are confidential, and if you are a seller, we may be able to show you options that could help you save your home. We will also give you a list of references on request. Whether you talk to us, or someone else with experience, please talk to someone, it won’t just go away.
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Tagged with: Avoiding Foreclosure • Short Sales
Filed under: Avoiding Foreclosure • For Sellers • Short Sales
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