What is a Short Sale?
A short sale is one alternative to foreclosure.
The term “Short Sale” is used to refer to a home sale sale where the owner owes more on the property than a sale at current market value would net. In order to complete the sale, the lender must be willing to accept less at closing than what is owed. Many owners don’t understand the short sale process or even know it’s an alternative to foreclosure. Even if you owe more on your home than you could sell it for, it’s possible to sell. Lenders would much rather work with you on a short sale than foreclose on your property and then have to sell it at an even lower price.
Example: Mr Smith owes $200,000 to Best Bank. His home is only worth 185,000 and after listing his home he settles with a buyer at a purchase price of .$180,000. From that purchase price selling fees are deducted (Title, Escrow, Recording, Realtor Fees, pro-rated property taxes and interest-etc) and the bottom line on the ledger sheet would be the amount the lender must be willing to accept in order to release the lien and allow the seller to complete the closing.A short sale can be an excellent solution for homeowners to avoid being foreclosed on and in the past several years we’ve been successful helping many families do just that! More and more, short sales are being successfully negotiated due to changes within the lending industry and large investors working to streamline the process.
In order to qualify for a short sale, the owner must meet the following criteria:
- Have recently experienced a financial hardship
- Have a monthly short fall of income (expenses exceed income)
- Insolvency-not huge amounts of assets and savings which could be used to pay off the short amount of the loan.
Even with recent changes in the short sale process, it is still fairly complicated and takes an experienced professional to take a short sale from listing to “approved” and then closed. Our team has extensive lending, escrow and of course real estate experience listing, negotiating and closing short sales in the greater King County area. If you’d like to talk with us further selling your home as a short sale to avoid foreclosure, contact us today!
Colleen Fischesser, Washington State Designated Broker & Owner of RE/MAX Select R.E; Member NWMLS, SKAR, WAR, Voted "Best in Client Satisfaction" Seattle Magazine 2006,2007 & 2008. Representing home Buyers & Sellers for nearly two decades. 
