A short sale is when a home owner sells his or her property for less than the amount owed on their mortgage. In other words, the seller is “short” the cash needed to fully repay the mortgage lender. Typically, the bank or lender agrees to a short sale in order to recoup a portion of the mortgage loan owed to them.

Short sales are becoming increasingly rare as the economy improves. They were much more prevalent during the Great Recession, when many U.S. homeowners were “underwater” on their home loans; i.e., they owed more on their homes than the homes were worth in value.

Nobody is saying a short sale is a perfect solution to a home seller who has suffered a financial setback and owns a home with where the mortgage exceeds the property’s value – but it might be the best option.

Credit score advantages

A short sale is highly preferable from a personal credit score point of view, especially when weighed against any potential home foreclosure. Credit scoring firms take a dim view of a foreclosure, and will issue a credit score much lower than when a home seller turns to a short sale instead. That not only protects the seller’s score, it keeps them “in the game” and better able to buy another home down the road, without the burden of a significant foreclosure-induced credit score decline.

Emotional advantages

In many instances, a home mortgage is the biggest financial event of a person’s life – at least before retirement. The seller avoids a “worst case scenario” of foreclosure and can honestly say they sold their home and moved on with their life.

Saving on home sale fees

With a traditional home sale, the seller bears the burden of fees and charges, including real estate agent commissions, which can be 3%-to-6% of the total home sale. In a short sale, those fees and commission are paid by the bank.

Short sales can create issues for sellers such as:

No cash-out

A short sale means they won’t earn any profit from the sale of the house – the bank or mortgage lender gets all the sales proceeds.

Dependence on the lender

Home sellers also need a green light from their lender on a short sale – they can’t make that decision on their own.

Consider these benefits of a short sale:

Less cash for a future home purchase

Since the seller earns no profit on a home short sale, they won’t be able to steer home sale assets toward the purchase of a new home. Instead, they’ll be starting from scratch.

Home buyers can take good advantage of a short sale, as well, with several advantages:

Reduced price

Primarily, the big benefit is the increased odds of getting the home for a reduced price, knowing that the house is in short sale mode, and that the owners, and likely even the bank or lender in many cases, will want to sell the home and get out from under the home loan. As any real estate agent will say, a motivated seller is a seller who wants to cut a deal, so a low-ball offer has a better chance of being accepted in a short sale than in a traditional home sale negotiation.

Less competition

Many home buyers, especially first-time buyers not used to the complexities of the process, may not want to get involved with a short sale. That opens up the field for home buyers with more patience for a short sale, and who’ll face less competition for the home.

A longer home-purchase timetable

For buyers, the paperwork process is significantly longer in a short sale (usually up to 120 days) than in a traditional home sale (usually up to 45 days) and that may be a deal-breaker for home buyers.

Lender interference 

Lenders may also get directly involved in the home price negotiations, often asking for a higher sales price than the home seller (including the insistence that the buyer make all or most of the closing fees), in order to recoup more money on the home loan.

The property may be in disrepair 

It’s also highly advisable for a short sale buyer to work with a real estate agent well-experienced in the short sale process. It’s also strongly advised that a short sale buyer hire a home inspection professional to thoroughly examine the property, as short sellers may not have the financial resources to keep up with home maintenance and repairs.

Meaning

The fist step in facilitating a short sale or a loan modification is to know your seller and what brought them to where they are.
The next step is to know everything you need to know about the property and the seller’s intention because surprises can kill the deal.
The next step is educating your client on the short-sale or loan modification process.
Communication and transparency are the key to building a good relations with the home owner.
Remember that man homeowner trying to get a short-sale or a loan modification are in a bad place and in the beginning of the transaction you may have to carry them until they can find the strength to carry themselves
After you have brought the homeowner in a safe place mentally you both can have a positive experience.

Facilitating a short sale includes, but is not limited to:
• acting as the authorized third party representative for the borrower
• helping the homeowner complete the request for mortgage assistance package
• passing hardship documentation back and forth
• handling the direct communication with the lender
• coordinating the third party appraisal between the listing agent and appraiser
• exercising follow-up systems to ensure the bank is held accountable to their estimated timelines.

Here is a common example of when a short sale processor would be hired:
Ted purchased his house in 2017 and recently has fallen on hard times. His current hardship has resulted in 3 months of mortgage delinquency. On top of that, his mortgage balance exceeds the as-is market value of his home. Ted wants to do a short sale, but lacks the expert knowledge and time that is required to complete the process.
After doing research, he determines that hiring a short sale negotiation company is the right move for his situation.
After speaking with them, Ted is confident the company will take care of the leg work and exercise their short sale specific follow up systems with the lender.

DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING WITHOUT DISCUSSING IT WITH AN ATTORNEY OF YOUR CHOOSING REMEMBER:
IT IS EASIER TO STEAL A HOUSE THAN IT IS TO STEAL A CAR

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• A short sale in real estate is one in which a house is sold for a price that is less than the amount still owed on the mortgage.

• It is up to the mortgage lender to approve a short sale.

• Sometimes the difference between the sale price and the mortgage amount is forgiven by the lender, but not always.

• For the seller, the financial consequences of a short sale are less severe than those of a foreclosure.

• For the buyer, it’s important to calculate costs and be sure that there is room for profit when the house is resold

Before the process can begin, the lender holding the mortgage must sign off on the decision to execute a short sale, also known as a pre-foreclosure sale. Additionally, the lender, typically a bank, needs documentation that explains why a short sale makes sense; after all, the lending institution could lose a lot of money in the process. No short sale may occur without lender approval.

Short sales tend to be lengthy and paperwork-intensive transactions, sometimes taking up to a full year to process. However, short sales are not as detrimental to a homeowner’s credit rating as a foreclosure.

A real estate short sale is unlike a short sale in investing. An investing short sale is a transaction in which an investor sells borrowed securities in anticipation of a price decline and is required to return an equal number of shares at some point in the future.

WARNING: Mortgage lending discrimination is illegal. If you think you’ve been discriminated against based on race, religion, sex, marital status, use of public assistance, national origin, disability, or age, there are steps you can take. One such step is to file a report to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and/or with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

What’s more, short sales don’t always negate the remaining mortgage debt after a property is sold. This is because there are two parts to all mortgages: a promise to repay the lender and a lien against the property used to secure the loan. The lien protects the lender in case a borrower can’t repay the loan. It gives the lending institution the right to sell the property for repayment. This part of the mortgage is waived in a short sale.

The second part of the mortgage is the promise to repay, and lenders can still enforce this portion, either through a new note or the collection of the deficiency. Whatever happens, lending institutions must approve the short sale, and borrowers are sometimes at their whim.

When convincing a lender to agree to a short sale, it’s vital that the source of the buyer’s financial trouble be new and not something the buyer previously withheld.

A foreclosure is the act of the lender seizing the home after the borrower fails to make payments. Foreclosure is the last option for the lender. Unlike a short sale, foreclosures are initiated by lenders only. The lender moves against the delinquent borrower to force the sale of a home, hoping to make good on its initial investment of the mortgage. Also, unlike most short sales, many foreclosures take place when the homeowner has abandoned the home. If the occupants have not yet left the home, they are evicted by the lender in the foreclosure process.

Once the lender has access to the home, it orders an appraisal and proceeds with trying to sell it. Foreclosures do not normally take as long to complete as a short sale, because the lender is concerned with liquidating the asset quickly. Foreclosed homes may also be auctioned off at a trustee sale, where buyers bid on homes in a public process.

A homeowner who has gone through a short sale may, with certain restrictions, be eligible to purchase another home immediately. Depending on the circumstances, homeowners who experience foreclosure can expect to wait two to seven years to purchase another home. A foreclosure is kept on a person’s credit report for seven years.

While a foreclosure essentially lets you walk away from your home—albeit with grave consequences for your financial future, such as having to declare bankruptcy and destroying your credit—completing a short sale is labor-intensive. However, the payoff for the extra work involved in a short sale may be worth it.

Less disruptive alternatives to a short sale include loan modification and utilizing private mortgage insurance.

Another possible option for staying in your home arises if you have private mortgage insurance (PMI). Many homeowners who purchased homes with less than 20% down were required to purchase PMI with their homes. If the PMI company thinks you have a chance at recovering from your current financial situation, it may advance funds to your lender to bring your payments up to date. Eventually, you’ll have to repay the advance.

Before beginning the short-sale process, the struggling homeowner should consider how likely it is that the lender will want to work with them on a short sale by understanding the lender’s perspective. The lender is not required to do a short sale; it will be allowed at the lender’s discretion.

The source of the financial trouble should be new—such as a health problem, the loss of a job, or a divorce—not something that was not disclosed when the homebuyer originally applied for the loan. The lender won’t be sympathetic to a dishonest borrower. However, if you feel you were a victim of predatory lending practices, you may be able to talk the lender into a short sale even if you have not had any major financial catastrophes since purchasing the home.

To put yourself in a more convincing position to complete a short sale, stop purchasing non-necessities. You don’t want to look irresponsible to the lender when it reviews your short-sale proposal.

Also, be aware of other circumstances that may prevent the lender from wanting to do a short sale. If you are not in default on your mortgage payments yet, the lender probably won’t be willing to work with you. If the lender thinks it can get more money from foreclosing on your home than from allowing a short sale, it may not allow one. Finally, if someone cosigned the mortgage, the lender may hold that person responsible for payment rather than doing a short sale.

If you think your situation is ripe for a short sale, talk to a decision-maker at the bank about the possibility of engaging in this type of transaction. Don’t just talk to a customer service representative, who is often more like a spokesperson and has no real authority. To work your way up the phone ladder, immediately ask to speak with the lender’s loss mitigation department. If you don’t like what the first decision-maker says, try talking to another one on another day and see if you get a different answer. If the lender is willing to consider a short sale, you’re ready to move forward with creating the short-sale proposal and finding a buyer.

Consult Professionals

At this point, you should consult an attorney, a tax professional, and a real estate agent. While these are high-priced professional services, if you make a mistake by trying to handle a complex short-sale transaction yourself, you may find yourself in even bigger financial trouble. You may be able to pay for these service fees out of the sale proceeds from your home. Professionals accustomed to dealing with short-sale transactions will be able to give you guidance on how to pay them.

Setting a Price

When setting an asking price, make sure to factor the cost of selling the property into the total amount of money you need to get out of the situation. Of course, you want to sell the home for as close to the value of your mortgage as possible, but in a down market, there is bound to be a shortfall. In some states, even after a short sale, the bank will expect you to pay back all or part of that shortfall.

Gather Your Documents and Find a Buyer

Gather all the documents you’ll need to prove your financial hardship to the lender. These may include bank statements, medical bills, pay stubs, a termination notice from your former job, or a divorce decree. It is up to you to come up with the short-sale proposal. Be aware that the lender ultimately must approve a short sale after receiving all the details because the lender is the recipient of the proceeds. Your job is to find a buyer for your home.

Submit Your Proposal to the Bank

Once you have a buyer and the necessary paperwork, you are ready to submit the buyer’s offer and your proposal to the bank. Along with the documentation of your distressed financial status, your proposal should include a hardship letter explaining the circumstances that are preventing you from making your mortgage payments. You want to make it as convincing as possible and protect your interests while also appealing to the bank.

Be careful about submitting your financial information to a lender because, if it does not approve the short sale, it may use your financial information to try to get money out of you in foreclosure proceedings. If you still have cash assets, you may be expected to use them to continue making mortgage payments or to make up some of the shortfalls between the sale price and the mortgage amount. An attorney experienced in completing short sales can help you navigate the details.

Because short sales can take longer than regular home sales due to the need for lender approval, they often fall through. The buyer may find another property while waiting for an answer from you. Be prepared for this possibility. If the short-sale transaction goes through, consult with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to see if you will have to pay taxes on the shortfall.

Also, be aware that a short sale can still affect your credit score in the sense that the months of mortgage payments you missed prior to the short sale can show up as delinquent payments on your credit report. It is up to the bank to decide what to report, so it’s in your best interest to try to convince the bank not to report your defaulted payments.

Your bank may be more likely to be generous in this regard if you brought up your hardship before you were significantly behind. For credit purposes, while this is somewhat damaging, it is certainly less damaging than a foreclosure.

Learn How to Find Them

Most short-sale properties are listed by real estate agents and on real estate websites. Some listings may not come out and say “short sale,” so you might have to look for clues within the listing, such as “subject to bank approval” or “give the bank time to respond.”

An experienced real estate agent can make a big difference in terms of both finding and closing short-sale properties. Agents who specialize in short sales may hold a Short Sales and Foreclosure Resource (SFR) certification, a designation offered by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).²

Holders of this certification have received specialized training in short sales and foreclosures, qualifying sellers for short sales, negotiating with lenders, and protecting buyers. It’s important to note that the certification doesn’t guarantee that an agent will have the type of experience you are looking for, nor does a lack of certification preclude it. Either way, you’ll want to vet any potential real estate agents to ensure their short-sale expertise.

Prepare to Hurry Up and Wait

Realize in advance that short sales are complicated, time-consuming transactions. It can take weeks or months for a lender to approve a short sale, and many buyers who submit an offer end up canceling because the short-sale process is taking too long. Buyers have to be ready to wait for the bank’s short sale approval. Rules for short-sale transactions vary from state to state, but the steps normally include:

• Short sale package—the borrower has to prove financial hardship by submitting a financial package to their lender. The package includes financial statements, a letter describing the seller’s hardship(s), and financial records, including tax returns, W-2s, payroll stubs, and bank statements.
• Short sale offer—once a seller accepts an offer from a potential buyer, the listing agent sends the lender the listing agreement, an executed purchase offer, the buyer’s preapproval letter, a copy of the earnest money check, and the seller’s short-sale package. If the package is missing anything—either because a document wasn’t submitted or due to a filing error on the bank’s part (e.g., the bank lost it)—the process will be delayed.
• Bank processing—the bank’s review of the offer can take several weeks to months. In the end, it will approve or deny it. It’s important to note that just because the seller accepts an offer doesn’t mean the bank will agree to the price. If the bank thinks it can make more money through foreclosure proceedings, it will reject the offer.

If you are buying a house in a short sale with the intention of flipping it, the key to a profitable transaction is a good purchase price.

You should be able to buy the property, put it in great condition, and sell it at a price where you can still make a profit. Investors need to be able to turn around and sell the house quickly—typically at below-market—and a good purchase price makes this possible.

The purchase price is only one important number, however. You’ll have to make some other calculations as well, including:

Repairs and Renovations (R&R) Costs

These costs will vary depending on the property’s condition and your plans for it. It pays to put in the time and effort to develop a realistic budget, as this is one of the figures you’ll need to determine if the investment can make money. Costs to consider include material, labor, permits, inspection fees, trash removal, storage costs, and dumpster rentals. A good inspection (before making the purchase) can alert you to any large expenses, such as a cracked foundation, faulty wiring, or extensive termite damage.

After Repair Value (ARV)

ARV is an estimate of the property’s fair market value (FMV) after any repairs and renovations are made. Investors look at this number to determine whether a property has profit potential. The best way to evaluate a property’s ARV is to look at comparables (comps)—homes that have recently sold in the area (typically up to a mile away from the subject property) that have similar features in terms of square footage, number of bedrooms/bathrooms, etc.

Carrying Costs

Carrying costs are your expenses for holding onto the property. The longer you own the property, the more you will spend in carrying costs, which include:

• Mortgage payment (including interest)
• Property taxes
• Insurance
• Condo and association fees
• Utilities (electric, gas, water, sewer, trash)
  
  

Determine Profitability

In order for an investment to be profitable, the sum of your costs (the purchase price, repair and renovation costs, and carrying costs) must be lower than the ARV. If your costs are close to or higher than the ARV, it will be difficult or impossible to make a profit. You can determine the potential profit by subtracting the purchase price, repair and renovation (R&R) costs and carrying costs from the ARV:

Profit = ARV – Purchase Price – R&R Costs – Carrying Costs

Real estate investors might expect to earn at least a 20% profit on a property, and some use guidelines to evaluate properties in different housing markets. Under these guidelines, total investment (purchase price, R&R costs, and carrying costs) should not exceed:

• 80% of ARV in a market where home values are rising
• 70% to 75% of ARV in a flat market
• 60% to 65% of ARV in a market in which home values are decreasing
  
  

If the ARV of a property is $200,000, for example, your total investment should be limited to about $160,000 in a rising market, $140,000 in a flat market, and $120,000 in a market with falling values. The various investment levels are used to reduce risk in changing market conditions. You can risk more in a rising market because you are more likely to get your ARV or better when you sell. In a falling market, you are less likely to get your ARV, so your investment should be smaller.

While many investors purchase short-sale properties and quickly resell them for a profit, others choose to maintain ownership and use the property for income by collecting rent. In either case, each property must be carefully evaluated prior to purchase to determine if it has profit potential.

Because tax laws are complicated and constantly change, it is always recommended that you consult with a certified public accountant (CPA) who knows about real estate investing and related tax laws to give you comprehensive and up-to-date information. It can mean the difference between making a profit and taking a loss on an investment.

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