All proceeds from a short sale go to the lender. The lender then has two options: forgiving the remaining balance or initiating a deficiency judgment requiring the former owner to pay the lender all or part of the difference. A short sale means that they won't make any profit from the sale of the home: the bank or mortgage lender keeps all the proceeds from the sale. For buyers, the processing process takes significantly longer for a short sale (usually up to 120 days) than in a traditional home sale (usually up to 45 days), and that can be a decisive factor for homebuyers.
With a short sale, no one leaves with money in their pockets. The landlord doesn't receive the money the lender receives and uses it to pay off part of the original loan. But the advantage is that the homeowner's credit rating won't be as affected by a short sale as it will in a foreclosure. A home is put up for short sale when the owner realizes that he can no longer afford to pay his mortgage.
Instead of waiting for the bank to foreclose on the home, the homeowner begins the short selling process by submitting an application to the lender. In a short sale, the bank or mortgage lender doesn't evict the homeowner. Instead, the lender allows the current owner to sell the home for less than their mortgage debt. Regardless of whether short selling increases or not in the coming months, the process of buying a short sale is very different from that of a traditional sale.
A short sale is different from selling your home at a loss because you won't pay any fees or commissions (everything is paid by the lender). Once the buyer agrees to make a short sale offer, the landlord contacts his bank and completes an application requesting the short sale status of the home. If there are other buyers interested in the property, this offer will give you an advantage over the competition, as it will allow the lender to recover more money. Lenders can also be directly involved in home price negotiations and often request a higher selling price than the seller of the home (including insisting that the buyer pay all or most of the closing costs) in order to recover more money from the mortgage loan.
In a typical situation, the owner would have to contribute the difference in the money owed to sell the property. They can help explain all aspects of the homebuying process, including locating short sales. For people with a flexible schedule, a short sale home may be a good option, but it's usually a lengthy process and the property in question is sold in whatever condition it is in. In other words, a homeowner's impending inability to pay his principal and interest in full each month is a telltale sign that a short sale may be in order.
As the economy has improved and the housing market has recovered, short selling has become less common. While it's always beneficial for buyers to get prior approval before making an offer, it's even more important in a short sale, as the lender will want to make sure that the new buyer is actually able to buy the short-term property. A short sale is when a homeowner sells their property for less than the amount due on their mortgage. That's why today there are far fewer opportunities than ever before for savvy buyers to take advantage of short selling.
