The short sale is a very detailed and complicated process and would take hours just to explain so I will focus here only on the simplified key points of this procedure.
1. Homeowner realizes that the home needs to be sold. Homeowner can no longer afford to make the mortgage payments, owes more than the home is worth, quite possibly has missed payments although not necessarily. The homeowner contacts a realtor who is a short sale/ distressed property expert and after a prequalification interview where it is decided that the homeowner in fact qualifies for a short sale, lists the home. The realtor gives the owner a list of financial information to gather up that will soon be needed by the lender. Bank account statements, pay stubs, bills, etc. Meanwhile, the realtor aggressively markets the home to find a qualified buyer.
2. The homeowner provides the realtor with the requested financial information, and signs several lender required forms which the realtor provides. The realtor contacts the lender or lenders and sends these forms as a short sale package to them and requests that the lender does not foreclose on the home. Contact and follow up is made with the short sale department and possibly with known negotiator contacts and other necessary departments at that lender or lenders.
3. Once the buyer is found the purchase offer is submitted to the lender or lenders with a net sheet showing all of the sales costs/proceeds often times along with an updated copy of the short sale package. The realtor begins negotiations with the lender to convince them to allow the house to be sold as a short sale rather than to be foreclosed, sometimes local sales comparatives are prepared by the realtor and sent to the lender. An appraisal is ordered by the lender called a BPO to determine the current fair market value of the home. Usually during this time the lender DOES NOT foreclose on the home because they have an offer on the table.
4. The results of the appraisal are compared with the purchase offer price by a negotiator who is assigned to determine if a short sale should be approved and to handle the negotiations between the owner’s realtor and the investor who needs to be convinced to allow the short sale to occur. If there is more than one loan outstanding there may be several negotiators which the realtor must deal with. The negotiators also deal with each other in offering different amount of payoffs to each investor.
5. If the amount of the purchase offer is found to be acceptable then the negotiator will present it to the investor for approval. Sometimes the negotiator or investor will ask the realtor to make a counter offer to the buyer requesting more money and or a change in terms and present a specific closing date. The realtor must then go back to the buyer and negotiate with both the buyer and lender negotiator until an agreement is reached. Once an agreement is reached by all parties the short sale is said to be “approved” and the offer must go through several departments to make sure that all legal precautions were followed by the lender and then the investor signs and sends a short sale approval and mortgage release letter that usually allows 30-45 days for escrow to close and the sale to be completed. The homeowner or the homeowner’s realtor should at this point request on the behalf of the homeowner that the lender report the short sale kindly on the homeowner’s credit report(i.e. Paid in full, unrated or settled) At this point the buyer can move forward with all the inspections and fund their loan and purchase the home. Once escrow closes, the original owner is now relieved of mortgage debt and does not have to worry .