Troubled Homeowner     

 

Todays market is difficult for many families. Fortunately,  there may be help for you!
If you need to sell your home but know it’s not worth as much as what you owe on it, most lenders have programs that may help you.    Normally they call these programs “Loss Mitigation” done by “short sales”.
What is “Loss Mitigation”?  Loss Mitigation is when the lender is pretty sure they are going to loose money off the balance of the loan if the property goes on the market. The lenders have trained staff available to discuss the issues.   The primary goal of Loss Mitigators is to keep the home from falling into foreclosure.   These Loss Mitigators use several financial tools to help them determine the current fair market value of the home in question.
What does the Realtor do? The Realtor helps gather several financial documents and markets the home, while making sure the Loss Mitigators are kept to date on the situation. The realtors with the most success are CDPE’s (Certified Distressed Property Experts).    The national average for closing a “short sale”  is 23% , however if they Realtor is a CDPE, that skyrockets to 85% and in some areas of the country 90%.
What is a “short sale”?   A short sale is the term used when selling a home for less than what is owed on it.
Can I, the homeowner do my own short sale?  Normally not. The lender takes the situation (loss of lender capital) very serious and normally requires a Realtor or real estate agent.    This Realtor or agent can’t be a family member either. 
Do I have to pay commission? No. The lender will pay it on behalf of the home seller.
Why would the lender want to do a short sale rather than allow a foreclosure?    Simple: money. The lenders have found that a home that sells as a short sale is less costly to them than a home that goes into foreclosure for a variety of reasons.
How do I locate a CDPE? You can either google “CDPE” and will come up on their website where a registry of all CDPE’s are maintained in the country or you can see that we have one right here on our site (Larry Augst).
How many CDPE’s are there nationwide?   At last count, only about 22,000 out of over 1 million Realtors & agents. This is a highly trained group of men & woman looking out for the homeowners in trouble.  They even have their own private blogs to help each other when they run into obsticles, these members contact each other regardless of company and location to help get that sale through for each other! Almost unheard of throughout the real estate industry! No ego’s involved.