A Short Sale is when you need to sell your property but the amount owed exceeds the value of the property AND you are asking the lien holder (lender) to accept less as payment in full. You are asking your lender to accept a “short” payoff so you can sell and they can avoid the expense of a foreclosure.

For example: You bought your house in 2005 and paid $250,000 for it. You  mortgaged $230,000. You can no longer afford to keep the house because of a legitimate hardship. You MUST sale or you will be foreclosed on.

The property is now only worth $200,000 (Market Value). Fortunately, you have a qualified Buyer willing to pay Market Value. After the expenses involved with selling the property there will only be $180,000 leftover to pay the lender. 

So you either have to bring $50,000 to closing OR ask the lender to accept a “short” of $50,000 ($230,000-$180,000=$50,000). If the lender agrees you have just completed a Short Sale.

What is a hardship and why do I need one?

A Short Sale is one of several pre-foreclosure remedies.  In order to request a Short Sale, from your Lender, you must have a hardship AND you have to be able to prove it. It has to be a legitimate hardship.

Hardship:

Noun
1. conditions of life that are difficult to endure
2. something that causes suffering

A hardship is anything that makes it where you can not afford the payments on your house. A hardship is something drastic that has happened to your financial situation since you borrowed the money. You borrowed the money and you agreed to pay it back. Now you can’t. Notice I said CAN’T….not WON’T.

A hardship may be the result of:
Divorce
Job loss
Reduced income
Illness
Disability
Medical bills
Job relocation
Military duty
Incarceration
Failed business

One of the key documents related to a short sale is the Hardship Letter. Whatever your hardship may be you will need to write a hand written letter  telling your lender about it.

Bryant Tutas
Broker/Owner of Tutas Towne Realty, Inc
Short Sale Specialist
407-873-2747
Copyright 2009 http://www.brokerbryant.com/ | All Rights Reserved 

SHORT SALE TESTIMONIALS

When we first met Bryant we were at the point of total despair and we were seriously contemplating walking away from our home, but Bryant calmed our fears and explained to us the option to do a short sale, which is a better avenue than going into forecloseure. Just a short two months later Bryant got the bank to accept an offer. Our house was sold and most importantly we saved our credit. My wife and I now have a second chance to make it right this time. Thanks Bryant for all your hard work and dedication to us.

Sincerely,
Vanessa and Garry
102 Big Sioux

Hello Bryant,
 
I want to thank you for all the help you provided in a professional manner. The short sell went well considering all the negotiations you had to do with First Horizon and Etrade. The end result saved us money and I hope some of our credit rating. I would not hesitate to recommend you to anyone interested in purchasing a home or doing a short sell.
Best Regards to you in the future,

David

Bryant,

You are amazing! From the bottom of our hearts we want to thank you for this smooth transaction even from across the United States. We are all spread out - David in China, you iYour professionaln Florida, and I am here in California. Even with the distance this transaction did not skip a beat. You did everything on your end and we did whatever you told us to. Your hard work and dedication paid off! You even got us a better deal than what we expected - with the 2nd being forgiven.