A sellers hardship turns into a new start with a happy ending

This is a true life story about a clients hardship.....the names have been changed to protect the innocent. It ended up a happy ending and a new start in life.

Susan is in her 50's and she is a divorced mother.....she has one daughter who lives with her and still attending college.

Susan met a man....and she fell in love with that man. Susan and he new boyfriend went into business together. They opened up a sub-shop. They worked the business together  and Susan put all her blood and guts into making it work. Even though they weren't married...they bought a condo together.

You see.... Susan wanted to own a piece of Real Estate but because she didn't have good credit the only way for her to possibly buy it was to include her boyfriends name on the loan. They did manage to buy the condo and they were happy. But it was short lived. Susan and this man broke up...the business went under and they had to declare bankruptcy.

She made a deal with a man she thought she could trust...he agreed to sign over the condo to her. She now was responsible for the debt to be paid each month and she apparently got bad legal advice and ended up responsible for the bankruptcy as well. She said she didn't realize that the loan she had gotten had an acceleration clause that said the interest was to climb as high as 12%. Susan got a job at a supermarket working at the deli counter and did a few odd jobs on the side to make ends meat. Her relatives agreed to help her by making the mortgage payments each month while she would be responsible for the monthly maintenance fees. "Her love for this man was blinded by the reality."

Ten months ago Susan contacted me...she was a referral from one of my relatives. She explained to me what happened and told me that six months ago she declared bankruptcy and was told she can now sell the condo. Her relatives notified her that they didn't want to make the payments. So she needed to sell the property. It was a 2BR 2BTH condo over looking the golf-course and with a water view. It had a redone kitchen and was spotless. We listed it and as months passed..we had no offers and she kept reducing the price. She was being pressured by her relatives and she needed to get the property sold as soon as possible but she didn't want to walk out completely empty handed so we continued to wait. There are hundreds of these on the market and it was priced right ...but the market is not as strong as it was when we listed it.

She called me back in September and told me that her relatives informed her that they would no longer be able to help her and her relationship with them became so strained that she is no longer in contact with them. She told me she was no longer going to pay the mortgage and if I couldn't sell it by December that she was going to pack up and abandon the property. She told me she was so defeated that she didn't care and she was going back to New York and was going to live in her cousins basement.

I felt really bad for her because she became a good friend and i wanted to see how I could help her. Also I put in a lot of my time and work trying to sell it. I went home that night and tried to figure out how i could save her. Now I'm not a very religious person but I prayed that night for an answer. The next morning I was summoned by my office to attend a meeting with a title company. They were talking about short sales and I decided to see what they were going to say. They told us that they were willing to assist us with clients who needed to be relieved of the financial hardship of making loan payments without going into foreclosure. I had negotiated short sales before myself and had been successful..but that was a few years ago.

Then it dawned on me that I might be able to save her from further embarrassment. The next day I proposed to my client that we lower the price enough to attract a buyer and negotiate a short sale. My client became stubborn and said she didn't care if she lost everything because "she was never going to buy Real Estate again." I had to convince her and let her know that I refused to let her just walk away. I told her if she walked away that her credit would be destroyed for a very long time and she would never be able to buy another home. I also told her that she would have a very difficult time purchasing items and would always be scrutinized any time she went to buy a carton of milk. I figured that we had nothing to lose....She agreed.

Well... god must have been on my side...we received a contract within one week and the buyer came in with 20% down. The next step was to wait for an answer from the bank.  Short sales are never guaranteed and they generally take 30-60 days before you hear the outcome. My prayers were answered.....the bank approved the deal. We are closing in 2 weeks and the buyer and the seller are very happy. Foreclosure can be one of the worst positions you will ever want to be in. It is worse than bankruptcy.

It is better to be a few payments late. Why not try....you have nothing to lose. In a few years from now you might look back and see that the decision you made was the right one.

If you think you might be in this difficult position with your property then you should call a Realtor® who might be able to save you the trouble of losing your last link to financial recovery.

For sellers...we might be able to be of some assistance...please do not hesitate to call. This could be your only chance to get out of a very difficult dilemma.                         

For buyers....if you are interested in moving to our area ......then we strongly urge you to visit  South FL- you can view Real Estate for sale here.

If you like reading different stories about our area then please visit my blog The Real Deal tells it like it is in Real Estate

For more information please contact Steven Kohn (954)605-5877 or  Neal The Real Deal Bloom(954)608-5556 /Remax Hometown

The Real Deal tells it Like it is in Real Estate-copyright © 2007