Paul & Jerri Stracener

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HAFA Short Sale described by Bank of America

Here's a link to active foreclosure listings in the following areas:

Athens-Clarke County

Oconee County

Barrow County

Madison County

Oglethorpe County

Jackson County

This link is connected to the Athens Area MLS (Navica) and gives you information on all foreclosures in the area. If you are interested in short sales or other properties that are for sale, let us know. We can get you set up to receive new listings as they come back on the market.

As a real estate agent in Athens, I have worked hard to be successful with closing short sales. When a homeowner contacts me to list their home as a short sale, this is usually their final option to avoid foreclosure.

Every bank has their own system for having short sales submitted and approval times vary. Bank of America and GMAC short sales are processed through equator.com. This makes the process faster and clearly defines the step that are needed.

I've recently listed and am processing 2 short sales for GMAC. One of the homes is in Watkinsville and the other in Madison,GA. I was able to set up one of the offers through equator.com. The other seller has an FHA loan.

With FHA financing, the process is different - the lender orders an appraisal and the list price is set by that appraisal. The offer must net the bank 88% of th list price in the first 30days. In the 2nd 30 days, it goes down to 86% then 84% in the 3rd 30 day period. On FHA loans, the guidelines allow the property to be marketed for 120 days. After that, the only option for the homeowner is to do the deed in lieu of foreclosure. That is a better option than foreclosure, but short sale is better if an offer is received.

I obtained the Certified Distressed Property Expert designation (CDPE) in the spring of 2009. Since then, approximately 30% of my sale have been from closed short sales in Athens, Watkinsville and Barrow County. I am currently working with 8 homeowners to get their homes sold and have offers submitted on 3 of them, waiting for bank approval to close.

If you, or someone you know is facing foreclosure, call me. I can help with loan modifications, short sales, deed-in-lieu of foreclosure. If you have a short-term hardship, your lender may offer a forebearance period, allowing a reduced payment for a specified period of time.

The owners moved out of the house 4 years ago but continued to make payments while trying to get the home sold. We had the listing for the past 15 months and had asked the sellers if they wanted to lower the price and list it as a short sale. They said they had been told by their bank that they wouldn't qualify. About 4 months ago, the seller called to say that they can no longer afford to make the payments so they were going to let the house go back to the bank. The loan was originally with Taylor, Bean and Whittaker but was being serviced by Cenlar.

I talked to them about a short sale and found out that they had been taking money out of their retirement account to make the mortgage for the past few years. I sent them the documents to sign and immediately lowered the price. Just as this was happening, the loan was sold to Ocwen. I didn't know how this would work since it seemed that Ocwen would not be happy that they bought a loan that immediately went to short sale status. Apparently, it happens all the time.

We had an offer within 2 weeks. After presenting the offer to the bank, they had the home appraised and came back with a counter offer that was about $15,000 higher than the first offer. That buyer decided to terminate the contract.

It took about 3 more weeks to get a new offer. This time, the buyer knew exactly how much the bank would accept and they were willing to pay it. We had approval on the offer within 3 weeks... and we closed yesterday!

This was a great deal for the seller(avoided foreclosure and can now continue saving for retirement) and the buyer (they bought the house for $55,000 less than the previous owner owed on the house).

When submitting an offer for approval to a lender, it is very important to have justification for the list price. You can't control what the offer will be but if you know what the bank will accept, it makes it easier to work it out. I believe that working with a real etate agent who has experience with short sales is the key to a successful short sale.

If you have questions about selling a home as a short sale... or if you're interested in buying a short sale, call Paul (706) 296-4394 or Jerri (706) 296-4395.

The new system for uploading documents to a website for short sale approval has made it so much faster to get approval with Bank of America. They request a hardship letter, verification of financial situation, and a contract. It's a little more involved than that but compared to 4-5 months wait for approval in 2009, I have seen a major turnaround by Bank of America.

We listed a home in Winder for a short sale on May 17, received an offer on July 10 and closed yesterday - October 5. Less than 3 months from contract date to close is great! and 4-1/2 months from the time it was listed.

I am very happy to work with sellers to get approval for short sales with Bank of America. It can be difficult if you don't have an agent who is familiar with the process. I obtain the Certified Distressed Property Expert designation in 2009 and have been able to close approximately 80% of the properties I listed. I work with several banks but Bank of America is the most efficient these days. If you need help with a short sale, call me at 706-296-4395.

In 2010, I have close 12 short sales and assisted several buyers with purchasing foreclosures. On our website www.MovingToAthens.com you can view all current short sales and foreclosed properties that are available for sale.