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Weiss Title Services Protects You

For owners who can no longer afford to keep mortgage payments current, there are alternatives to bankruptcy or foreclosure proceedings. One of those options is a short sale. At Weiss Title Services we can help to facilitate a short sale.
 

Short sales have become more prevalent in recent years because of declining property values nationwide. A short sale occurs when a piece of property, usually a home in danger of foreclosure, is sold for less money than what is owed on the mortgage. The Mortgage Forgiveness Act of 2007 provides tax relief for short sellers through 2012, making short selling an even more attractive option.

Short sales are complicated transactions. They involve a seller, a mortgage holder, a buyer, a mortgage insurance company, real estate firms, an escrow agent from a title company and others. Each party’s interests must be taken into account and each step requires full disclosure to all parties. Negotiations can drag on for months as a lender decides whether to allow the short sale or force foreclosure. Weiss Title Services can help make a short sale as seamless and painless as possible. Our expert short sale service includes:

1. Call the lender. You may need to make many phone calls before you find the person responsible for handling short sales. You do not want to talk to the "real estate short sale" or "work out" department. You want the supervisor's name, the name of the individual capable of making a decision.

2. Submit a letter of authorization. Lenders typically do not want to disclose any of your personal information without written authorization to do so. If you are working with a real estate agent, closing agent, title company or lawyer, you will receive better cooperation if you write a letter to the lender giving the lender permission to talk with those specific interested parties about your loan.

3. Preliminary net sheet. This is an estimated closing statement that shows the sales price you expect to receive and all the costs of sale, unpaid loan balances, outstanding payments due and late fees, including real estate commissions, if any. We will prepare this for you, if you do not know how to calculate any of these fees. If the bottom line shows cash to the seller, you will probably not need a short sale.

4. Hardship letter. This statement of facts describes how you got into this financial bind and makes a plea to the lender to accept less than full payment. Lenders are not inhumane and can understand if you lost your job, were hospitalized or run over by a truck, but lenders are not particularly empathetic to situations involving dishonesty or criminal behavior.

5. Proof of income and assets. It is best to be truthful about your financial situation and disclose assets. Lenders will want to know if you have savings accounts, money market accounts, stocks or bonds, negotiable instruments, cash, real estate, or anything else of tangible value. Lenders are not in the charity business and often require assurance that the debtor cannot pay back any of the debt that it is forgiving.

6. Copies of bank statements. If your bank statements reflect unaccountable deposits, large cash withdrawals or an unusual number of checks, it's probably a good idea to explain each of those line items to the lender. In addition, the lender might want you to account for each and every deposit so it can determine whether deposits will continue.

7. Comparative market analysis. Sometimes markets decline and property values fall. If this is part of the reason that you cannot sell your home for enough to pay off the lender, this fact should be substantiated for the lender through a comparative market analysis (CMA). Your real estate agent can prepare a CMA for you, which will show prices of similar homes that are Active on the market, Pending sales and Sold during the past six months.

8. Purchase agreement and listing agreement. When you reach an agreement to sell with a prospective purchaser, the lender will want a copy of the offer, along with a copy of your listing agreement. Be prepared for the lender to renegotiate commissions and to refuse to pay for certain items such as home protection plans or termite inspections.

If everything goes well, the lender will approve your short sale. As part of the negotiation, you might ask that the lender not report adverse credit to the credit reporting agencies, but realize that the lender is under no obligation to accommodate this request. Credit report status is not always negotiable.

Weiss Title Services is the agency you can trust to handle every detail professionally, efficiently, transparently and affordably. The lines of communication are always open at Weiss Title Services and because we store documents digitally using the latest, most-secure computer software, important information can be in your hands in minutes, rather than hours or days.