Christian Bohyn

As some of you might know, I have been investing in Real Estate since 2002.

I moved the family from Belgium Europe to Florida because I wanted to give my kids a chance to grow up in "The Land of Opportunity"

In the first year of our stay I tried to set up shop in Florida and kept the business going oversees. In those days I spend so much time in Europe that my kids asked me: Dad why did we move to the States?, you're always gone.

As my main business oversees was insurance and as US regulations prohibited me from doing what I did in Europe I needed to find another niche. I have always been interested in real Estate and had already begun to invest cautiously in the Central Florida housing market. Everything was booming and nothing could go wrong.

The banks called me asking if I needed more money, my assets where up in value and according to the bank, I could get some more money to Invest. In those days I invested more and more and slowly started to sell my business and assets overseas.

I accumulated mere then $7.5M in Real Estate with 20 to 30% down. At one point in time I proudly showed my wife a spreadsheet showing more than $2.5M in equity. During that time I obtained my Real Estate License and Mortgage Broker license.

I guess you all know the rest of the story, property values went down 30 to 50% here in Florida and I needed to sell my properties fast. Unfortunately I was always behind the curve, wanted to hang on and would not let go for what I owed.

One day, after reading some books on how to sell homes fast and going to Quick Sale training, I had developed a system of my own. I just needed proof of concept. A friend was facing foreclosure; he was about to be evicted in 4 weeks. No wonder he agreed to try my system as a last resort.

We sold his home for $6,000 more than what was owed to the bank, gave the $6,000 to the young first time buyers and found ourselves next day at 8 AM at the judge's office and got obtained a 45 day extension. My friend was saved.

On top of that the bank called me and asked me if the HUD1 was not mistaken, as it did not mention a Realtor commission.Believe it or not but they insisted on paying me a real estate commission. Being without a job, as I had sold my overseas business, that was a welcome surprise and the start of a new venture. That's how I found out that I could help people sell their home, avoid foreclosure and still make a living.

The downside is that short sales take a lot of time and energy and in the mean time I invested what was left of our savings in this new venture only because I feel it is my calling. I love what I do and I am becoming quite an expert in Short Sales. A great team of people surrounds me and we all fight for the same cause.

Too bad that I’ve lost $2.5 M; too bad I now have to give up on all my properties. They all go into short sale.

After 21 years of marriage and with 2 out of 3 children in College, I could not have found a worst time to go through this.

So here's my advice:

Don't Panic

If you have the tendency to panic when unexpected news comes your way, work on changing that behavior. You may fear telling certain things to your spouse because of her reactions. Your panic could be harming communication.

It's so important to stick together in though times keep an open channel, don't hide anything for each other. Be honest and truthful.

Don't talk about your problems in front of the kids, they need to live their youth and can miss your worries.

Be strong, there are more important things in life than a property.

Have faith in God and in each other and you'll come through this much stronger.

At least that's how I look at it.

I remind my wife every day that my priority is proving security for her and the kids.

Every day I work more than 12 hours, helping people avoid foreclosure, by offering loan modifications, short sales, anything that can help them in these difficult times. I'm going through the same hell as what they go through so I can relate.

The good thing of all this, is that I have found a passion in what I do.

I am proud to live in this Great Nation amongst a people that has the strength to endure and the spirit to fight.

This is only another season in life.

God Bless America!

If you have a deficiency from a short sale are other properties you own at risk of having a lien placed on them for the deficiency?

You should not have a deficiency after a short sale.
Unless, you have a previous foreclosure on your record.

That is just what short sale is all about.

Here is and extract out of one of the lenders approval letters:

"Countrywide or its investors will not pursue a deficiency judgment if the shortsale closes on the referenced loan. If the shortsale does not close, then the referenced loan secured by the Note and Security Instrument shall remain in full force and effect and we will pursue all remedies under the Note and Security Instrument."

It says clearly "no deficiency judgment", so you won't be pursued.

The beauty of the short sale is that it creates a win/win for everybody:
- The seller/borrower gets debt forgiveness and has no deficiency judgment against him. On top of that his credit report will show the debt as settled so that's not bad.
- The Lender does not have to spend $50,000 or more in foreclosure fees.
- The new buyer is getting a steal of a deal.
- The Realtor gets a commission out of the proceeds.

Isn’t that sweet?

So, don't worry, if the short sale is handled by a licensed professional then you should be having no problems afterwards.