Terri Warden Arcieri

What is the chance of having short sale success is the question on most people’s mind. A successful short sale could be considered a success when the home owner sells his/her home before a foreclosure happens and walks away without a deficiency judgment from the lender.

Short Sales are not uncommon to Banks and Lenders there are short sale and foreclosure statistics from Realty Trac that suggest distressed properties are one third of the listings for sale. In fact in some areas like Arizona and Las Vegas they are almost half of the sales.

In fact Banks and Lenders are becoming proactive and mailing letters out to their customers explaining the short sale program. They have delegated entire offices and staff to Loss Mitigation. They want to take the quickest route to get the non performing asset off their books.

The chances of a short sale success are increased if;

• The property is damaged and needs lots of repairs.
• The homeowner owes more on the property than current market value.
• If there is lots of bank owned houses and short sales on the market.
• If the homeowner has already tried to sell or refinance the house for the owed amount and failed because the current market value is less than what is owed to the lender.
• If the cost for the lender to foreclosure plus the value of the house add up to be more than the house is worth.
• If there are junior liens on the house that are also accepting less money or being forgiven completely.
• If you have a Real Estate Agent who is a Certified Short Sale specialist
• If you have all the elements required for the Lenders package to determine if you are eligible for the program

Short Sales are complicated and should be handled by a talented and experienced Certified Distressed Property Agent like myself. If you are a resident of Kitsap County or live in Silverdale, Bremerton, Port Orchard, Poulsbo etc... I can help you. contact me at http://better-homesandland.com

There is great training out there for Agents now so there is no reason to settle for less. You wouldn’t go to your Chiropractor for brain surgery and you shouldn’t allow an inexperienced person to assist you with the Short sale of your home. After all, your home is in jeopardy of foreclosure and your credit is in jeopardy of being ruined for years to come.

In Kitsap County Washington Short Sales are almost 50% of our listings. The prices were escalated so much the last ten years it isn't surprising that they are all on sale now.

People were able to refinance or take equity loans on their homes every six months because their home values were rising so fast. I owned a Mortgage and Real Estate company at the time and I really would see the same people coming back every six months to draw money out of their homes. At one point I had to tell one family no I wouldn't refinance them any more because they were causing more harm to themselves by refinancing for dental work or a new fence around the yard every six months. Unfortunately they just went some where else and did it anyway.

I see this adjustment in prices caused by short sales and foreclosures as a good thing. I know there is a lot of pain now but the pain was actually caused by the artificially inflated prices over the last ten years in Kitsap County. We are just seeing the ramifications now.

The areas I work in are mostly Bremerton, Port Orchard and Silverdale and when I pull up listings to show to my clients at least one half of them are short sales.

Since I am a CDPE Certified Distressed Property Expert working with short sales as a Listing Agent or as a Buyers Agent it is not really a problem. I just have to educated my buyers and sellers to the process and the length of time it takes and it seems to work out smoothly.

Short Sales are a process or a series of steps a real estate transaction must take to be approved by a the Lender who by the way has the final decision. If the short sale package and offer are put together correctly before the negotiation with the Lender, usually they are approved.

People tend to make them out to be more difficult than they really are. If you have an Educated Real Estate Agent workng with you then you are miles ahead and can get through a short sale comfortably.

Its a great time for Real Estate Investors and Buyers to buy homes at great prices and at great rates.

If you would like to search for Foreclosures and short sales anywhere in Washington State go to my website http://better-homesandland.com