Sometimes one of my biggest challenges to successfully close a short sale listing is not getting an approval from the seller’s bank or having the buyer cancel, but rather, the seller may be uncooperative. It happens more than most people think. Here are some tips:
Get your agent all the paperwork they request as soon as possible.
- Short sales require a lot of documentation that is often time sensitive.
- The bank will often request the same documents multiple times. Don’t fight it.
- Your agent is not incompetent; this is just the nature of short sales
Don’t resist price reductions.
- You’re not going to receive any proceeds anyway.
Stay away from loan modification unless you think you’ll really be able to maintain your mortgage long term.
- Banks are not writing down huge loan balances in order to refinance borrowers.
- They use the loan modification process to squeeze more money from you as well as gather financial intelligence.
- You will also waste valuable time you could be using on a short sale.
- I receive calls from borrowers every week who were “just denied” a loan mod but also have a foreclosure sale date coming up in a week or two.
- Having only a couple of weeks to initiate a short sale will be a difficult task and many agents may not even agree to take on the listing.
Once you list your home as a short sale, stop talking to the bank unless you speak to your agent first.
- You hired someone to represent you, let them do their job.
- Agents know the process and who is the right personnel they have to deal with at the bank.
Be honest with your agent.
- This includes omitting critical information as well.
- No agent wants to find out three months into a short sale that their client has $300,000 cash lying around and won’t qualify for a short sale.
- We must spend that time on clients who truly need our time and attention.
Keep your cool.
- You have been put through a terrible emotional experience but to get out of the situation you’re going to need the help and services of people who cannot succeed without your cooperation.
- There will be good days and bad but know that if you hired the right people to represent you in a short sale, you’ll have a good chance of success if you cooperate fully.
- Sometimes clients want to to take out frustrations on the very people trying to help them.
To learn more, feel free to attend our Short Sale Seminar. The seminar will be held at North American Realty of Nevada’s Henderson office located at 3007 Horizon Ridge Pkwy #201 in Henderson on October 6th at 6:30pm in our conference room.
Paul Rowe lists and sells shorts sales for the Sena Team at North American Realty of Nevada. He can be reached at 702-376-0088.
We are not the Government. 
2470 West Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 120 Henderson, NV 89052 - Phone: (702) 376-7379 