Lately, my phone has been ringing off the hook. As a Santa Maria short sale agent, I am used to receiving urgent calls from homeowners in distress. Some are weeks away from foreclosure auction, others are at the precipice of missing their first mortgage payment. These are tough times for many California homeowners.
1) The Bank/Servicer. “Banks” are the most often cited reason for delay on short sales. Processing a short sale can easily be accomplished in one month, but some banks simply bungle files. They lose documents, they lose files, they re-assign files too often, or they never assign files to start. In addition, some banks are now using third party servicing companies to process their files which adds another layer of bureaucrac
And what have you told me as the seller when you make a low offer so quickly? You’ve told me that you really do want this house and you recognize that someone else would want it too so you are trying to move quickly. So, then even if I’m not insulted by your low offer, I think I can probably get you to pay a lot more than what you’ve offered -- basically I may think your actions speak louder than that low price.
Many homeowners who are severely underwater ask this question. Generally, the reason a bank accepts a short sale is due to the hardship of the seller. It is not because the short sale offer is close to or far from the loan balance. Once hardship is established, the issue becomes the market value of the asset. If market value is half -- market value is half -- there is no way around that.
If you have one mortgage loan on your California home the answer is no. Senate Bill 931 allows that after January 1, 2011, if a lender on a first mortgage accepts a short sale, they are agreeing to waive the deficiency amount. So, if they approve the short sale and it closes, you will not owe your lender any additional money, even though you have not paid back the entire loan balance.