Miami Condo Short Sale Contract Tip #9

Short sales of Miami condos and homes are often a great way for a buyer to get an excellent deal on a property and a seller to get out from under an upside down mortgage with hopefully less damage to credit and his or her pocketbook.  This is the ninth and last of as many blog entries, in no particular order, each with a tip for the buyer or seller or both, to help make sure the deal goes smoothly while giving protection to one or both parties.

Miami Condo Short Sale Tip #9:

Short Sale Approved–Now What?  FOLLOW THE LENDER’S INSTRUCTIONS!  Immediately inform the buyer so they can prepare to close, or finalize the financing on the property.  If the approval came in with a net payoff amount to the lender which is different than that on the proposed settlement statement, the difference will have to be accounted for.  Typically, the lender will have cut the broker fees to a total of 5%, and trimmed off some of the listed closing fees.  This is normal as in the short sale contract offer the price is low and the listed costs high, and everybody should already be prepared for this, including the buyer who should be ready to pay some additional funds to finalize the transaction.  The title and closing agent must anticipate the closing time lines, and prorate the closing items accordingly, because once the approval is in hand, it is impractical to update it to add, for instance, an additional 25 days of property taxes and condo maintenance.  In the cases where an update is sought, two weeks or more may be lost, or some party to the transaction, such as a Realtor or closing agent, may be expected to cover the costs to make the deal close.  Sellers, Buyers, Realtors, and closing agents: anticipate all delays and costs or be prepared to pay them!

Also, once everybody is in agreement, there are often very strict time periods and rules to obtain the FINAL approval and go-ahead to close and forward the funds to the lender.  If the closing agent and parties do not abide by these rules, a lender may cancel the transaction or otherwise hold it up for several days or more, which can cause problems for the short sale buyer’s loan and other time sensitive plans.  The parties, Realtors, and closing agent MUST follow the requirements or be prepared to be responsible for the results, which in some cases may be a foreclosure and a lawsuit against somebody.

http://www.southptc.com/short-sale-miami-florida-attorney.html

http://www.southptc.com/florida-title-company.html

Miami Condo Short Sale Contract Tip #8

Short sales of Miami condos and homes are often a great way for a buyer to get an excellent deal on a property and a seller to get out from under an upside down mortgage with hopefully less damage to credit and his or her pocketbook.  This is the eighth of several blog entries, in no particular order, each with a tip for the buyer or seller or both, to help make sure the deal goes smoothly while giving protection to one or both parties.

Miami Condo Short Sale Tip #8:

Short Sale Lender Approval–You are not special.  Sellers MUST work their approval or it may never happen. The short sale department of any given lender has  been hired to process and approve short sales.  They will tell you what they will approve and what they feel the value is of the short sale property.  That being said, a short sale seller and his or her agent must submit all the proper paperwork and MUST follow the short sale lender’s directions!  The short sale lender will have an abundance of applications, and will not treat your application as a priority or otherwise special.  One negotiator stated that he had 300 files other than one one in question, thus, none of those files will get special attention.  Nor will the processor go out of their way to make sure they receive the required documents.  In fact, the seller’s only notice of a missing document or document in need of an update, may be a letter mailed via USPS.  To get a short sale approved in a timely manner, it is important that the seller or agent calls on a regular basis to make sure the person currently in charge of the file has everything they need.  A good suggestion is to call at least twice a week and always helpfully ask “do you have all the documents needed?”  and “are there any documents which need to be updated?”  Often the answer to the first will be “yes” but to the second, “well actually we did send out a request to update the ‘whichever’ form.”  At that point you can say “what is your fax–I will send it now!”

The “it is in the lender’s hands now” approach will often result in a painfully long short sale process, and often a sale that fails to close, as the buyer decides to cancel and buy a REO property.   If your Realtor is acting as your short sale agent, make sure you get a guarantee that they will call on the file twice a week and keep you updated.  As a seller be sure to promptly provide any needed documentation.  If your agent cannot commit that time, find a new agent to process your approval.

http://www.southptc.com/short-sale-miami-florida-attorney.html

http://www.southptc.com/florida-title-company.html

Miami Condo Short Sale Contract Tip #7

Short sales of Miami condos and homes are often a great way for a buyer to get an excellent deal on a property and a seller to get out from under an upside down mortgage with hopefully less damage to credit and his or her pocketbook.  This is the seventh of several blog entries, in no particular order, each with a tip for the buyer or seller or both, to help make sure the deal goes smoothly while giving protection to one or both parties.

Miami Condo Short Sale Tip #7:

Short Sale Trust or Trustee Deed Sales.  In any market there are resourceful individuals thinking up ways to profit from the current situation.  One method in todays short sale market is for the owner to transfer the distressed property to a “short sale resale company” via a deed into a trust.  The short sale resale company then will supposedly obtain a buyer for the property and between here and there make a profit from the transfer.  There are various ways this situation plays out, but the bottom line is once an owner transfers the property, it is then owned by the trust or  other entity, not the owner.  The mortgage still exists however, and cannot be removed without satisfaction from the lender.  Before signing on to such an agreement, the owner should be absolutely familiar with all the terms, and likely meet with his or her attorney and CPA before agreeing to such an arrangement.  Additionally, such arrangement can violate the foreclosure rescue laws now in place, if not be outright fraudulent.

If the property is valuable enough for the short sale resale company to purchase it, it should be valuable enough for a quality Realtor to sell it through a normal short sale.

http://www.southptc.com/short-sale-miami-florida-attorney.html

http://www.southptc.com/florida-title-company.html

Miami Condo Short Sale Contract Tip #5

Short sales of Miami condos and homes are often a great way for a buyer to get an excellent deal on a property and a seller to get out from under an upside down mortgage with hopefully less damage to credit and his or her pocketbook.  This is the fifth of several blog entries, in no particular order, each with a tip for the buyer or seller or both, to help make sure the deal goes smoothly while giving protection to one or both parties.

Miami Condo Short Sale Tip #5:

Short sale negotiation.  To complete a short sale, the seller, or an agent working on the seller’s behalf, must interact with the seller’s lender(s) and get them all the documentation they need to approve the sale.  This also includes somebody being available to allow the appraisers into the property when the lender sends them.  It is important that the buyer ask and understand who is taking on these duties, and it is also important that the closing agent be on the authorized list with the lender to inquire after the progress of the process.  Many times this is where a breakdown in the process can occur, because the lender fails to communicate to the seller that additional or updated documentation is needed, and if the seller, or agent is busy with other tasks and fails to respond, this lack of information can stall out the file for weeks or even months until it is provided.  Having the closing agent in the loop with directions to contact the seller’s lender at least once per week to inquire as to the status will help guarantee that the process moves along as fast as reasonably possible.  Seller’s who are unwilling to disclose who is negotiating or allow the closing agent access are likely going to cause the whole process to slow down and have little or no additional oversight, and a buyer should carefully consider if it is a deal in which is is worth investing their time.

http://www.southptc.com/short-sale-miami-florida-attorney.html

http://www.southptc.com/florida-title-company.html

Miami Condo Short Sale Contract Tip #2

Short sales of Miami condos and homes are often a great way for a buyer to get an excellent deal on a property and a seller to get out from under an upside down mortgage with hopefully less damage to credit and his or her pocketbook.  This is the second of several blog entries, in no particular order, each with a tip for the buyer or seller or both, to help make sure the deal goes smoothly while giving protection to one or both parties.

Miami Condo Short Sale Tip #2:

One buyer contract.  As previously mentioned, make sure that there is a bona fide Short Sale Addendum to the contract, the most common being the FAR form.  In this Addendum, make sure you cross out or otherwise invalidate the provision allowing the listing agent to submit more than one contract to the seller’s lender.  This is important because the administrative process for the sellers’ lenders is already very slow, and to submit several offers to the lender and have them choose what supposedly is the best offer is likely a waste of time for everybody.  The seller and listing agent should keep it simple, pick a serious contract, and push the lender to accept it and approve it.   Taking back-up contracts is also reasonable, but they should not be sent to the lender as it will confuse things.  The lender should be called a minimum of once per week after submission, if not twice to keep things moving.

http://www.southptc.com/short-sale-miami-florida-attorney.html

http://www.southptc.com/florida-title-company.html

Miami Condo Short Sale Contract Tip #1

 Short sales of Miami condos and homes are often a great way for a buyer to get an excellent deal on a property and a seller to get out from under an upside down mortgage with hopefully less damage to credit and his or her pocketbook.  This is the first of several blog entries, in no particular order, each with a tip for the buyer or seller or both, to help make sure the deal goes smoothly while giving protection to one or both parties.

Buyers’ contract time periods.  Make sure that there is a bona fide Short Sale Addendum to the contract, the most common being the FAR form.  In this Addendum, make sure you check the box or otherwise have in writing that the various time periods, such as for inspections and financing, do not start “running” until you have received written notice of the Seller’s lender’s approval of the short sale contract price.  This is important because no buyer should be obligated to spend money on inspections, loan applications, etc., if the contract has not even been approved by the seller’s lender.

http://www.southptc.com/short-sale-miami-florida-attorney.html

http://www.southptc.com/florida-title-company.html

Be wary of any entity promising you that they can save your from foreclosure and take care of your upside down mortgage and repair your credit, especially when they demand substantial fees up front.

http://www.southptc.com/foreclosure-attorney-miami-florida.html

http://www.southptc.com/short-sale-miami-florida-attorney.html

http://www.southptc.com/short-sale-miami-florida-attorney.html