Need Help with a Tampa Bay Area Short Sale? Help is Available.

There are many people in the Tampa Bay area that are facing foreclosure. Most of your neighbors are “under water” on their homes. This means that the remaining balance on their mortgage exceeds the current market value of their home. With the large numbers of “sub-prime” mortgages that were given in the 1990s and early 2000’s there are many residents of the Tampa Bay area that are facing foreclosure even if they have not lost their jobs. The main point to keep in mind is that you are not alone. There are many Americans that are facing the same issue even if they did all the right things. So you are asking now what is the solution when I have to sell my Clearwater home and it is not even worth what is still owed on it? You have options and there are solutions for many homeowners who are in this position.

The most important factor in determining whether or not you are eligible for a short sale is to determine whether you need to sell or simply want to sell. Make sure you understand the difference because it is very distinct. If you can afford your home but you are simply under water with the value you won’t qualify. Good reasons to sell are job transfer, illness, death in the family, loss of job, loss of portion of your income or other factors outside your control that prevent you from being able to afford the payments on your home. Even if they have not already occurred yet these factors should be considered pro-actively. For example if you have been put on notice that you are going to lose your position in the near future you can apply for a short sale even if the event has not happened yet. if you just don’t like your house or your neighborhood that is not an acceptable reason to enter into a short sale.

Now that you have established a good reason whether it is financial, medical or a change in employment you can then begin the processes of considering the second important factor in short sale application – Do you have a hardship? As noted before there are many different factors that could represent a real hardship and could cause you to lose your home. One thing that does not represent a hardship is whether or not you have a guest bedroom for your friends to stay in when they visit or whether or not your master bathroom is too small.

Now that you have a established that you have a legitimate hardship and you need to sell your home you will submit for a short sale. Many of the short sales that we are assisting our clients with will require the help of an attorney as well. Often times the short fall in the mortgage can be dismissed by the mortgage company reliving the seller for repaying the debt indefinitely. This is not always the case but even if the debt is not forgiven you are still left with a far less disastrous situation then that of a foreclosure in which the homeowner is followed by this event for the rest of their life. Foreclosures can also cause serious employment issues including the loss of security clearance in certain jobs or being dismissed from your job. Foreclosure is never the right option. The banks do not want these properties back and they also recognize that if they allow a short sale they are saving a lot of money and further protecting an already damaged market with deflated values.

There are even programs in which if the seller institutes a short sale the bank will even pay them! I just closed on a home that I listed for a client in Clearwater in which the client received a $3000 bonus and were relieved of the debt obligation. Wow!

Don’t allow your home to be foreclosed. We are a CDPE (Certified Distressed Property Expert) broker firm with training, experience and expertise in representing sellers that are in short sale situations in the Tampa Bay area. Call today to find out is your St Petersburg, Clearwater or Tampa Bay area home will qualify for a short sale. Call Fred Bullard at 727-576-6424 to schedule a review and consultation of your situation.

Many homeowners who are underwater do not even know what is short sale. It is imperative that the real estate agents and brokers involved in short sale Florida properties educate the general public. As homeowners they need to be aware that foreclosure short sale is far better than a simple foreclosure for the client in many ways.

In a short sale foreclosure situation the client if they let the bank foreclose can be effected in many ways and not simply the credit score of the homeowner. In a situation where the short sale mortgage company has agreed that the homeowner is eligible for a short sale there are many cases which have a total release from obligation for the homeowner. The banks are pretty good about sending the short sale information to the homeowners who are in trouble but few heed the instructions and most just throw the information away. As certified distressed property experts we know how to short sale. It is important to ask your real estate agent or representative how many times that they have been through the short sale process and have successfully completed a pre-foreclosure short sale.

At the very least realtors should be a CDPE before they advertise themselves as short sale agents. There are many agents who, when asked, what is a short sale, do not have the slightest clue. They have never even listed a short sale house or represented a buyer in the purchase of a short sale home. Sadly many of the agents that are practicing today do not have any training or education in short sale help and are totally unfamiliar with the short sale laws. If you are selling a home in a short sale you need a CDPE short sale specialist. The wrong short sale advice can prove to be disastrous for the homeowner going through the process. There are many short sale foreclosures that could have been avoided with proper training of the real estate agent that is listing them.

Many property owners do not know the definition of short sale. It is very simple, when the lender on a note agrees to allow the owner to sell for less than the amount owed often foregoing the additional expenses associated with a foreclosure. The best part is that the short sale services of the realtor are paid for by the bank and cost the seller nothing. The banks often send short sale information for sellers when they default but when you hire a true short sale expert the y know that the best time to start the process is even before the loan goes into default.

The short sale of house that is the most fulfilling to me as a CDPE is one in which the seller is relieved of the burden of their debt by the bank and can truly start over again with a clean slate.

Many short sale specialists (and in my opinion the best) are trained as CDPEs. This allows the short sale experts to get training in many aspects of the process and can give them the tools to explain the short sale vs foreclosure equation. When you complete the short sale of home with short sale negotiators assigned by the bank they can dictate whether the process will end in foreclosure or short sale. Usually for the bank the prospect of a short sale on house is far more attractive to the lender and the investors. If you have short sale questions we have the short sale solutions you are looking for and can explain the short sale or foreclosure process clearly and in a way that anyone can understand.

There really is not a true decision when it comes to foreclosure vs short sale but many homeowners are getting bad advice on the question of how does short sale work. Many “friends” are telling them that it is all the same and that they should just allow the bank to foreclose. DO NOT ALLOW THE BANK TO FORECLOSE UNLESS YOU HAVE EXHAUSTED ALL OPTIONS! I cannot be more clear than that. Make sure you don’t just go to short sale websites that promise solutions but are not local real estate agents. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES SIGN YOUR DEED OVER TO A THIRD PARTY UNLESS ADVISED BY YOUR ATTORNEY. Call us for help. We are part of the short sale specialist network (CDPE) and we are ready to help 727-576-6424.