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My time is short. Can I do a Short?

Florida Short Sale

Hi folks. A few months ago I had  Sellers call me who had just received notice that their property was being sold at auction in 10 days. Of course they wanted to know if I could help. As the good little Broker that I am I said “Maybe”. I asked a few qualifying questions and found out the property was:

  • Purchased as a “flip” that flopped.
  • They had a first Mortgage with 1st  Horizon and a 2nd with Etrade.
  • The mortgage balances totaled roughly $220,000 and the property was worth about $60,000.
  • The Sellers had recently divorced.
  • One was in California and the other was in China.

The biggest obstacle of course was the auction date barreling down on us. Both Sellers would have to get me their financial information very quickly AND we would need to find a Buyer…… yesterday.

So my question is……..would you take this listing?

***In order to be successful with Short Sales you have to be able to pick and choose who to work with. You have to make sure the Sellers qualify and you have to make sure they are motivated. Want to learn more?

Short Sale Basics

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Posted Sunday Jun 21

Reserved Parking For "The Lovely Wife"...TLW...ROAR!


Blog Boy...


I know it's Fathers Day and all, but must you behave like a vendorwhore? :)


For the record folks a slut gives it away and a whore charges for it. At least that's what one of the Guys said :)


TLW...ROAR!

I think this one is a lost cause.  Unless you have contacts at the foreclosing bank and can get the auction postponed tomorrow.


I do REOs, not short-sales, but I thought I heard that the banks are less apt to approve a SS on an investment property?

( 06/21/09 05:10PM ) — Elizabeth Ramsey Cooper-Golden

Oh wow.  I don't deal much with SS's or REO's, so I am no expert.  IF I thought I could get the bank to approve the short sale, I would take it.  I have a big heart and would want to help these people, if I could.  I would certainly try my best to help them.

( 06/21/09 05:20PM ) — Satar Naghshineh

The issue won't be finding a buyer or gathering the financials. My issue is if I submit my short sale package and authorization into their system today, will there be time to stop the foreclosure. I'll have the seller call in with me and let the bank know we have a short sale package to submit and see how the response is. No need to worry about the second at this time as I am sure they are not the one foreclosing.


James - it makes no difference whether it is investment or primary. I have a client who gave me 12 investment properties and I closed most of them, lost 1 and are working on the others.


"In order to be successful with Short Sales you have to be able to pick and choose who to work with. You have to make sure the Sellers qualify and you have to make sure they are motivated."


I personally disagree with that statement. You cannot define success by selecting your accomplishments. True success comes from facing all challenges and conquering them. Until you do so, you'll just be a vendor whore and not a vendor whoremaster! ;)


 

( 06/21/09 06:19PM ) — Patricia Kennedy

Man!  I'd pass.  But I'm just lazy and shiftless.  Sounds like too much work to me!

( 06/21/09 06:34PM ) — Lisa Spalding, REALTOR, CDPE

I personally would not take the listing.  They would have to get an attorney to delay the Sale Date and would probably have to pay a payment on the mortgage to confuse the courts, also delaying the sale date.  But 10 days is TOO short of notice to you.  I know you're good but they are expecting WAY TOO MUCH of you. 


I'm curious--did you take the listing anyway? 

Bryant - What I would do is have them ask their lender if they would allow a delay, you never know.  Also, there are intermittent "suspension" of foreclosures by different groups, like Fannie Mae.  But NO I would not take the listing with the information they gave you.  No way.

( 06/21/09 06:57PM ) — Lisa Hill (Daytona Beach Real Estate)

My first instinct is to say "no". But without being there I can't be sure. I sometimes go with my instincts. So it would depend on my gut feeling. AND I'd need to know if both sellers were working together instead of against each other. Are they going to provide the necessary information in time?

( 06/21/09 09:08PM ) — Andrea Swiedler

Count me in with Pat. My stress level is high enough, LOL. So, did you?

I think know I wouldn't be taking this one. I might refer them to someone who loves this sort of torture though.

( 06/22/09 12:57AM ) — Carol Culkin

BB - Not I.  I would rather save myself to dedicate for more worthwhile transactions, ones which I might have a better chance at getting paid for. 

Hi BB - I'd have to really look hard at all the pieces to this particular puzzle to see if I thought that realistically anything could be done in that short amount of time.


I often wonder why people wait so long to reach out to their broker, or any broker for that matter, to try to get some help.  Why wait until the auction date is barreling down on you to call for help?  Do it at the first hint of possible trouble and then help can really be had.


Ann

( 06/22/09 05:53AM ) — Gabe Sanders, Stuart Florida Real Estate

So what did you do?  Inquiring minds want to know.  Oh, and by the way, I wouldn't have taken it.

Great question about taking the listing.   I wouldn't have taken it, unless the sellers had already been in conversations with the lender; then it seems like there is a better chance of getting the auction date postponed.

WOW! Lokks like the concensus was to not take the listing. I'll come back at the end of the day and let you know how this one turned out.

( 06/22/09 08:12AM ) — Karen Luke - Henry County Real Estate

Nope. 


 


Waiting to see the end result.

( 06/22/09 09:14AM ) — Wanda Kubat-Nerdin

Bryant, There is not enough time to take care of all the details...no, I would not take this one!

( 06/22/09 10:06AM ) — Dan Magstadt

Not a short sale, especially one with two mortgages - You don't have time to get anything done if the sale is 10 days away.

( 06/22/09 10:39AM ) — Ginger Harper

I love a challenge.  Go for it..


Ginger

I've taken that one, had a divorce situation, one owner in Montana one here in Oregon, the auction was scheduled for Tuesday and here it was Sunday afternoon. I decided to try to help since it was a referral and though I got it done and sold, I personally don't think I would try it again.

Todd Clark - www.LivingBeaverton.com

In a word: NO.

OK so I'm back to spill the beans. I DID list this property. Not only did I list it but I closed on it in 45 days.


I was a little hesitant to do it but after speaking with the sellers I really wanted to try and help. So as soon as I got off the phone with the sellers I contacted one of my investors to see if he was interested in buying the property. He was. 


The Sellers sent me the release to talk to their lenders and I called the first lien holder imediately to let them know I had a cash buyer for the property and that there was an auction scheduled for 10 days from now. "What can we do to stop the auction date?"  They told me to send over the offer. I did.


Ther next day I had all of the info from the seller related to their financials and submitted the rest of the Short Sale Package. Then I contacted the 2nd lien holder who was very anxious to get "something" since they were getting ready to lose it all.


Long story short. All the pieces fell into place and the transaction closed with nary a hitch. This was a Short Sale I almost didn't get involved in. I just had a hunch I could do it.


The key was having an Investor ready to act immediately.


 


 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 XXXX  Successful Short Sale closing Feb '09


 

Looks like you figured this one out and beat the odds. Glad it worked out for all.

( 06/23/09 01:17AM ) — Satar Naghshineh

"The key was having an Investor ready to act immediately."


Very true. Thats why finding a buyer was not an issue. Congrats. You handled it the same way I would have done, well, almost the same! ;)


Great Post!

( 06/23/09 06:49AM ) — Andrea Swiedler

BB, had to come back and see what you did. If this were to happen here to me, I would not have had an investor, but this does bring up a good plan in my mind. So, again, you teach me something.


Oh, my plan, call the agents who do have investors.....

So I came in a bit late and saw your answer....Like most I guess I would have had a missed opportunity here as I would have skipped on it. Well done.

Good Job Broker Bryant.


I got here to late to give my response but I thought there was a bit of work to do before I would decide not to take the listing. I would need to know if the lender was willing to stall the sale ( a phone call might get that answer), I would see if there was any previous contact with the lender and another deal in place, that might not have been to the liking of the sellers, and I would have tried to gauge the sellers cooperation by requesting lots of paperwork from them. After a couple of days the answers to those questions would have given me an answer.


Again, good work. Let's remember the folks that are looking for this kind of professionalism before we decide "yay" or "nay"


Become a CDPE Today

Good Job Broker Bryant.


I got here to late to give my response but I thought there was a bit of work to do before I would decide not to take the listing. I would need to know if the lender was willing to stall the sale ( a phone call might get that answer), I would see if there was any previous contact with the lender and another deal in place, that might not have been to the liking of the sellers, and I would have tried to gauge the sellers cooperation by requesting lots of paperwork from them. After a couple of days the answers to those questions would have given me an answer.


Again, good work. Let's remember the folks that are looking for this kind of professionalism before we decide "yay" or "nay"


Become a CDPE Today

I would:


Take the listing, get an offer fast,


Have the sellers hire the attorney we use here for emergency hearings and bring that offer to the judge.


The judge will 99% of the time, give a 90 day extension to close the short sale.


And the sellers would be required to sign indemnity clauses for our company in case the deal did not happen. They need to know there are no guarantees, we will give it our best shot, but we are not liable should the auction not stop.

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