Daily Real Estate News |     Thursday, February 21, 2013

  

Short sales transactions can take up to three times longer than a traditional transaction. A lot can go wrong in that timeframe. Here are the most common delays we see.

 

1. Poor short sale candidate. Establish objective criteria up front, conduct an extensive interview with the buyer, and make sure the seller is motivated and cooperative.

2. Unfamiliar with lender’s short sale requirements and procedures. Be sure to harvest and maintain lender and investor guidelines, and secure the individual forms required for each lender/servicer.

3. Title exam not obtained at the start. This must be done up front in order to identify all individuals on deed and mortgages, and determine all lien holders.

4. Incomplete package submitted. Take the time necessary to focus on the quality of the package at the time of submission. Detail is critical and all documents must be completely executed.

5. Short sale not begun prior to receiving a contract to purchase. The lender never looks at a buyer contract until the seller candidate is approved and market value has been determined. Making this mistake adds 30-60 additional days to the process.

6. Complete package not maintained throughout the short sale process. You must keep all required homeowner financial information current and forwarded to the servicer every 30 days.

7. Lack of communication with the lender. Most negotiators are overwhelmed by the number of cases they are working on. Misunderstandings, loss of documents, and/or lack of familiarity with files are common. You must continue to follow-up with the servicer twice a week to reduce unnecessary delays.

8. Poor record keeping/documentation. It’s not uncommon for processing personnel at the lending institution to change, and every new person has to rely on the quality of the notes on file. You must be prepared to fill in the gaps.

9. Professional relationship with negotiator never established. In this high-stress process, it’s essential to build rapport with your contact at the lender in order to establish mutual respect and trust. This simple step can be a game changer.

10. Failure to meet BPO/appraiser at the listing. Without a detailed inspection of the property, the value will be distorted. Make sure you’re present during the process in order to share information.

11. Fair market value dispute. Negotiators often lack current relevant information on most markets and are, therefore, forced to make decisions based on the data provided by BPO and information in the lender package. You must be able to provide additional information that can have an effect on value.

12. Failure to “escalate” to higher authority when communication breaks down. Remember that upper levels at every lender’s short sale department are working toward one goal—avoiding another foreclosure.

Avoiding these dozen pitfalls will increase your odds of success while reducing everyone’s time and stress.

Learn how The Cascade Team handles Short Sales HERE

Why Work With Us As "The Short Sale Experts": 

We are a FREE Service to the homeowner. Short sales are complex and very time consuming transactions. We only do Short Sales. We have a full time experienced professional team to negotiate your Short Sale. When a Short Sale is being negotiated it is an 8 to 10 hours a day process. If a call is missed when a bank/lender returns a call, it could sometimes take weeks before you can get them back on the phone again. Most Lawyers and Realtors have never closed a Short Sale and they are not willing to spend 8 to 10 hours a day, 6 days a week talking on the phone trying to close your Short Sales. It is not worth their time or money. This is a full time job and it is what we do best.

How Much Does It Cost?:  It is FREE...There is NO cost to the homeowner. We get paid directly out of the close of the Short Sale from escrow. You will always know that we are working hard for you, because we only make money when your Short Sale has been is successfully competed.

We Get Your Short Sale Closed Fast:  We have some of the fastest approval times. No one knows how long it will take to complete a Short Sale, but after we submit the required Short Sale package to the bank/lender, our average Short Sale approval and closing time is between 60 and 90 days.

The Cascade Team Get Short Sales Closed Faster For Its Customers:   The National Average Is Now Taking More Than Four Months. Read "LinkedIn" News Article:  "Most Short Sale Transactions Taking Four or More Months to Complete" LinkedIn:  How Do I Get Started?:  Just click on the "CONTACT US" button and fill out your basic information. We will call you back with in 48 hours to discuss how we can best serve you.  

How Do We Handle A Short Sale Transaction

The Cascade Team connects our clients with our in-house short sale department to work with you throughout the process. Because we are not attorney's or credit counselors, we have negotiated to provide our clients a FREE attorney consultation  to provide information on the impacts of a short sale, credit implications, concerns regarding deficiencies, etc.  There is NO COST to you for this service.  In addition, our short sale team will work with you to ensure all the information required by the lender when evaluating a short sale is submitted to the lender with the purchase and sale contract. Because the selling price yields an amount less than what is owed to the creditor, all closing costs are absorbed by the creditor and there are no out of pocket costs to the seller. The Cascade Team Real Estate utilizes our same aggressive marketing strategies to obtain an offer as quickly as possible and turns that over to our short sale negotiating partner to begin the process with the lender.