Ted Greene

Due to the economic you may find yourself in a Financial Hardship. A Short Sale is a consideration for some people...not all. Take a look at your options below.

We Complete Short Sales at Zero Cost to You!

A “Short Sale” is a sale that does not produce sufficient funds to pay off the existing monetary encumbrances against the property after the costs of sale have been subtracted. Seller’s creditors are third parties who have an interest in the Property in the form of a deed of trust, some other security, or a lien (like a tax bill).

A Short Sale will require the consent of the Seller’s creditors in order for the sale to close. This is because the Seller’s creditors will have to agree to accept less than the outstanding amount of Seller’s debt that is owed to the creditors. In order to secure the creditors approval demonstration of a financial hardship is required. Hardships come in many forms and can also be the accumulation of many factors.

Consideration of entering into a Short Sale presents one of the most complicated real estate transactions you can do in today's market. Failure to look at and get professional advise before hand could result in even larger problems after the fact. At the least you will need a Real Estate Attorney as the starting point because it’s the legal issue that should be your biggest concern. A Real Estate agent does not know the law and cannot give legal advice even if they do. After you know your rights and the legal consequences of your options then you need a Real Estate Short Sale Expert and sometimes an accountant.

Here are some of those options:

1. Do nothing (continue to pay the mortgage and wait for the market to improve)

2. Sell (sell the property in a conventional manner and if you are short cash to close pay
for it out of your pocket)

3. Short Sale (sell the property under a lender approved hardship and let the lender
absorb any deficiencies)

4. Deed in-Lieu of Foreclosure (in some cases a lender will agree to take the property
back in lieu of foreclosing)

5. Foreclosure (walk away and let the lender foreclose)

All 5 of these options have complicated and impacting implications. Everybody’s situation is unique and your case needs to be evaluated separately.

With the amount of foreclosure activity currently happening you need a clear understanding of your options. When you choose us as your Short Sale Specialists you are benefitting from a group that has successfully taken advanced classes on dealing with banks in short sale techniques and procedures along with 100's of closed short sale transactions. We have a fulltime attorney on staff who is also a Real Estate broker. We have a staff that is totally focused on every nuance of the short sale process. You will have direct access to the attorney and all staff. That is the team you want on your side during this tough time. We can even do a bankruptcy analysis for you should the need arise.

If you want a free private consultation regarding your options and what may work best for you, fill out this form today, and we will get in touch with you within 48 hours to set up a convenient time to talk. All information is treated as strictly confidential.

DO NOT WAIT until the last minute or it could be too late. You do not want a foreclosure on your record. Call us today and we will analyze your situation and explain your legal rights and the good news is that it doesn’t cost you anything. The worst thing you can do right now is nothing. Make the call today and take charge of your situation. We operate through out the state of California and the toll free number is 877.544.9735 or www.upsidedownca.com. We look forward to talking to you today.

Governor Brown signed SB 458 this week. Senator Corbett’s bill 458 will extend anti-deficiency protection for all mortgages in a short sale. Presently, SB 931 added Civil Code 580e in January, which prohibited first mortgage lenders from pursuing a seller for a deficiency after a short sale.

SB 458 takes effect immediately as an urgency statute. It applies to 1 to 4 units in California, and only for a short sale. Junior lenders such as a second or third mortgage can no longer pursue a deficiency after a short sale on 1 to 4 units in California.

If you’re thinking about doing a short sale and have been putting it off, don’t wait. Now is the time to call me to get the ball rolling. This still could mean that banks could ask for seller contributions if the seller is in a position to pay it for second and third mortgages. The details of how this new law will be interpreted remains to be seen but at least it’s a positive step in the right direction.

It still means that a short sale is still a far better option than a foreclosure, especially if you’ve got a hard money loan in second position. At least it will protect the people who never got a release of liability because their agent didn’t know enough to ask for it. Remember that even with this new law (and maybe more so because of it) you NEED LEGAL ADVICE when doing a short sale.

Please contact us today for a FREE LEGAL consultation.

You cannot get the death penalty for being behind on your mortgage, or go to jail but you are not going to “win” a free house either.  Foreclosure defense is not about winning; it is about mitigation, which is not losing as badly as you could.  

Sometimes a foreclosure defense is about a short sale, and sometimes it is about a modification.  Foreclosure defense is always about lessening the credit hit as much as possible…and putting the homeowner in the best possible position to be a homeowner again…even if that means having to wait for credit repair. A 2-3 year wait in some areas might actually make sense since some areas are still dropping in value with no end in sight.

Many borrows do not realize that their modification and their foreclosure are moving ahead at full steam on parallel tracks.  The lending department and the legal department at their bank are not going to run into each other at the water cooler.  They are not going to call each other, email, text, IM, or exchange a Facebook discourse about the file.  The borrower continues to work with the lending negotiator on a modification, while the legal department continues with the foreclosure.  The modification package and the Notice of Default or Notice of Sale can arrive the same day.  

A foreclosure defense stalls the legal action, and allows the borrower to pursue that modification or short sale.  A foreclosure defense is about harvesting the best possible outcome from a bad crop of circumstances. Most banks actually would prefer a short sale over a foreclosure and if they are honest a modification too. The famed NPV test simply determines whether they would make more money off of a foreclosure vs a modification. They will Always make more money with a short sale but you just need to the right team on your side helping the lender make the right decision.

you can also take a look at my website at upsidedownca.com

As a California short sale Broker, this is one of the most common questions I’m asked by potential short sale sellers. I am also a California attorney and all the legal ramifications of a short sale certainly are at the top of the list but assuming the legal questions are answered then the hardship letter is the next challenge to face. Some short sale sellers tend to put off and put off writing their hardship letter. It is different than a loan modification hardship letter, where the purpose is to indicate that you have it hard but you can still afford to stay in the home if your lender makes a few changes to your loan. The short sale hardship letter’s purpose is to tell your lender that you can’t afford your house and you need to sell it. Many short sellers have a difficult time writing about the fact that they cannot afford their home. Others want to criticize their lender placing the blame on the lender for their current situation. This is not recommended and while it might “feel good” to do that it does not add value to the hardship letter. The hardship letter for some people can easily become the never ending diatribe. Refrain from revenge no matter how good you think it might feel.

My advice is to not make the short sale hardship letter any more difficult that it needs to be. The basic format is to first write about when you purchased the home and what your financial situation was like at that time. Usually, there was an event or trigger that then led to the financial difficulty, unemployment, reduction in hours, increase in expenses, etc. Write about that event or series of events and when they began. Be fairly specific about the impact to your income and expenses. Hardships come in many shades of gray and the lender just needs to be satisfied that there is “some” hardship. It can be as simple as the need to move closer to your job to save money on gas because of the cost of gas and the distance you currently travel. The strongest hardship is financial struggle but again that can come in many forms. We will personally talk to you about your situation and guide you in this area if you need help.

Do not discuss how much up side down your mortgage is. The bank knows this and is not relevant and should not be addressed in the letter. The short sale hardship letter does not need to be long. Most short sale hardship letters that we review are one page in length. They should be signed and dated and list the loan number and property address.

Before deciding whether to short sale your home, it is essential that you obtain legal and tax advice, and consult with an experienced short sale agent. I am both a California Attorney and Real Estate Broker. We handle short sales all over the state and it all stays under one roof giving you benefit of getting your legal advice while at the same time having your real estate needs met by an expert in the field. If you would like a free consultation please call me at 916.442.6400 or go to my website: www.upsidedownca.com. I look forward to talking you to soon.