Who Is Kathy

Options For Homeowners

The Michigan Foreclosure Process

Short Sales And How They Work

Dealing With Deficiency

Prepaid Legal Help

Frequently Asked Questions

There Is Life After The Short Sale

 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Do I have to be behind on my mortgage payments to do a short sale?

How much will it cost me to do a short sale on my house?

Who pays off my second mortgage?

How long does a short sale take?

How much money will I get when my house sells?

How long can I stay in my house if you are doing the short sale?

What if I want to move out of my house before you have completed the short sale?

Do I have to pay my back property taxes if I short sale?

What happens if you can’t talk my lender out of a deficiency judgment?

I have other liens on my house from the IRS and the builder can I still do a short sale?

My husband and I are divorcing and I and I want to do the short sale but he doesn’t can I still short sale the house?

Can I do my own short sale?

Can you be sure that my lender will agree to the short sale?

How important is it to work with someone who is experienced in doing short sales?

How much will my credit score be affected by a short sale?

How soon should we start the short sale process?

How do we begin?

 

Do I have to be behind on my mortgage payments to do a short sale?

No. At one time lenders would tell you that you had to miss a payment to be considered for a short sale. But times have changed. I have successfully negotiated a short sale for homeowners who never missed a payment. Of course, there still has to be a hardship. If you can afford your current house but just want to get rid of it so you can buy a much larger, fancier house, then if would probably be difficult to get a lender to agree to a short sale for you.

 

How much will it cost me to do a short sale on my house?

You don’t pay, the bank does. The commissions and all closing costs are paid by the bank.

 

Who pays off my second mortgage?

We negotiate a short sale with your second lender as well. They are paid off by the sale of your house. We get the first lender to agree to pay off the amount that the second lender as agreed to take.

 

How long does a short sale take?

It depends on the lender. Some lenders are very fast, while others are extremely slow. The average timeframe is between 2 months – 4 months depending on the lender. However, currently Bank of America is one of the very slowest and has taken up to 6 months to respond to the request.

 

How much money will I get when my house sells?

Your house is worth less than you owe the bank, so the bank will not allow you to get any money from the sale.

 

How long can I stay in my house if you are doing the short sale?

I cannot give you a definite answer. The average time to negotiate a short sale is between 60 – 120 days. Once the short sale is approved, the lender normally gives us 30 days to close the sale. You will be advised of the progress of the short sale negotiations on a regular basis. So, when it looks like we are about to get the approval, you will have approximately 30 days to move.

 

What if I want to move out of my house before you have completed the short sale?

You can move out at any time. I would request that you notify me so that I can keep an eye out on the property and make sure that it is secure and not affected by any of the actions that your lender may take to get possession of your property before your redemption period is over.

 

Do I have to pay my back property taxes if I short sale?

No. The back taxes are paid by your bank when the house is sold on the short sale.

 

What happens if you can’t talk my lender out of a deficiency judgment?

I am usually able to negotiate away all or most of the deficiency. If I am not able to do this with your lender, then I will try to negotiate the terms of the deficiency. Sometimes, they will allow a small additional payment at close to write off the deficiency. Sometimes, they will accept an unsecured, 0% interest promissory note for a small portion of the deficiency payable over a very long time to write off the balance of the deficiency. Whatever the terms are, you have the final decision to accept them or not accept them.

 

I have other liens on my house from the IRS and the builder can I still do a short sale?

Yes. But it will be a lot more difficult. There is more work to do with every additional lien. And, each lien holder has to agree to release their lien.

 

My husband and I are divorcing and I and I want to do the short sale but he doesn’t can I still short sale the house?

If you husband is on deed and mortgage, he will have to agree to the short sale and sign all necessary documents. The short sale cannot be done without his cooperation.

 

Can I do my own short sale?

You can, but it will be much more difficult. A short sale is like a puzzle with many pieces that have to go together correctly. If a piece does not fit properly, you can still complete the puzzle but the results may not be as good. There is a process to getting the short sale approved with the best possible terms. Why wouldn’t you leave it to an expert who does this every day?

 

Can you be sure that my lender will agree to the short sale?

Keep in mind that this whole process is a negotiated process so I cannot guarantee anything. But my overall success rate is extremely high – about 90%.

 

How important is it to work with someone who is experienced in doing short sales?

I can’t stress enough the importance of working with someone who does short sales for a living. I have seen far too many homeowners go into foreclosure because the realtor or company that they were working with had no real experience doing short sales. You can’t afford to turn your situation over to someone who wants to learn how to do short sales using your house as a learning experience. You need an expert.

 

How much will my credit score be affected by a short sale?

There is no clear answer to this question. It depends on many things. If you are current on all your bills and still making your mortgage payments, your credit score will not suffer greatly. But if you are behind on all your payments as well as your mortgage, then of course everything will affect your credit score. But a short sale will have far less impact on your credit score than a foreclosure or bankruptcy would.

 

How soon should we start the short sale process?

As soon as possible. As I said before, your lender is much more willing to work with us before your house actually goes into foreclosure. But we can still short sale your house after the foreclosure while you are in the redemption period. But if you wait until you are 3 – 4 months into your redemption period, you waited too long. There will not be enough time to get the process completed.

 

How do we begin?

Call me today at 248-930-0198. Or fill out the form to the left and submit it to my office.