Sicklerville, NJ

Once your property is on the market and priced correctly, you should start recieving offers. It is important to evaluate each offer and not just accept the first one that you receive. In my experience short sales attract a lot of novice investors so some of these offers might be a little off the wall. You may see lease-option offers, subject-to offers, offers with large seller concessions, or just plain low balls. Most of the time these offers will not do you much good. What you are looking for is a cash offer or one with financing already in place. Without this the difficult task of negotiating with the bank becomes almost impossible.

If you are not familiar with these types of offers and the benefits and drawbacks of each, you should discuss them both with your real estate professional and with your legal counsel. The danger of accepting just any offer is that your lender will not accept it or that after several months of negotiating, the buyer isn't able to perform. Once you have found a buyer who has made an acceptable offer you are ready to start the negotiation process with your lender. I'll discuss this in an upcoming post.

Joseph Cacciapaglia, MLERE
Realtor Associate®
R&I Realty
15 Potter Street
Haddonfield, NJ 08033
Office: 856.795.3111 x268
Cell: 979.218.2286
Jcacci1@gmail.com

As you're looking for a buyer for your short sale, you must implement an effective marketing plan. One of the most important aspects of any marketing strategy is proper pricing. This is especially true when selling a short sale because you need to get the property sold quickly. Many sellers make the mistake of pricing their short sales too low. This attracts a buyer quickly, but often the bank will not accept the short sale if they believe that this price is too far below the market. Based on my experience most lenders will take no less than 85% of today's fair market value, based on their appraisal.

What I have found works well is to list the property at a price similar to the most recent comparables, but then adjust that price every two weeks that we don't recieve an offer. By doing this, we quickly get to a price that will attract many offers and this achieves both a quick sale and a price that is easy to justify to the lender. With the right pricing strategy and effective marketing, attracting a buyer for your short sale should be quick and easy.

Joseph Cacciapaglia, MLERE
Realtor Associate®
R&I Realty
15 Potter Street
Haddonfield, NJ 08033
Office: 856.795.3111 x268
Cell: 979.218.2286
Jcacci1@gmail.com

Once you've determined that you owe more than your home is worth and that your lender is likely to accept a short sale given your specific situation, it's time to find a buyer. Now I would always suggest using a local real estate professional to market your home, but this is especially true when selling a short sale. There are a few reasons for this:

1. If you are having trouble with your mortgage payment, then you probably need to sell your home as quickly as possible. A local specialist should be better able to achieve this result.

2. If the short sale is negotiated successfully with your lender, the bank pays the commission and the seller has no out of pocket expenses. You get the benefit of professional representation at no cost.

3. If marketed correctly, you will get several offers. A knowledgable professional will be able to tell the real offers from the time wasters.

One of the most important aspects of finding the right buyer for your short sale in today's market is pricing. I'll save that discussion for a later post.

Joseph Cacciapaglia, MLERE
Realtor Associate®
R&I Realty
15 Potter Street
Haddonfield, NJ 08033
Office: 856.795.3111 x268
Cell: 979.218.2286
Jcacci1@gmail.com

As a continuation of my post yesterday, I'd like to go further into the steps of a short sale process. Once you have met with a real estate professional, and know approximately what price your property will sell for, you have to establish whether or not your financial situation is such that your lender will approve a short sale. For most of the homeowners that contact me, this is usually pretty straight forward. If you are already behind in your payments, or already facing foreclosure, most lenders are willing to entertain a short sale. If however, you are current on your payments, but are upsidedown on your mortgage, the answer is not always so simple.

Many people will tell you that banks won't do anything for you if you are current, but that isn't always the case. In my experience, if you can show that you are experienceing significant financial hardship, and will soon be behind, often lenders will allow you to sell your home as a short sale. It is best to ask your bank directly, and aslo check with your local real estate professional and legal counsel. Most agents that specialize in short sales and foreclosures should also be able to refer you to counsel that specializes in dealing with foreclosure cases.

Check back soon as we continue the process.

Joseph Cacciapaglia, MLERE
Realtor Associate®
R&I Realty
15 Potter Street
Haddonfield, NJ 08033
Office: 856.795.3111 x268
Cell: 979.218.2286
Jcacci1@gmail.com

I received an interesting phone inquiry today from a very nice homeowner who may or may not need to sell her home as a short sale. She asked me a very simple question that I realized I have never addressed in my blog: "What's the first step in a short sale?"

I realized that because I deal with distressed homeowners everyday, I take some of the process for granted. My response, and what I truly believe should always be the first step, is that we first need to establish the current price that the home would sell for today. Without knowing the price, it is impossible to know if the homeowner needs help with a short sale or simply just needs a regular sale. Either way, I believe a prudent first step is to have a real estate professional visit your home and go over the comparable sales with you to determine what your current situation is. A knowledgable professional should also be able to discuss all of your options with you and refer you to legal cousel when appropriate.

Joseph Cacciapaglia, MLERE
Realtor Associate®
R&I Realty
15 Potter Street
Haddonfield, NJ 08033
Office: 856.795.3111 x268
Cell: 979.218.2286
Jcacci1@gmail.com