The days of receiving cash for a successful short sale are upon us.  We JUST closed a deal within the last two weeks where the homeowners were paid to short sale their home.  That’s right, you heard correctly:  The lender paid them to short sale their home.  They received this money at the close of escrow.

Instead of being in a situation where they were dead in the water, potentially losing all the money that they put into the property, the homeowners were delighted to receive $20,000 from their lender.  The whole process happened in less than six months, due to the timely and efficient work done two of our best Green Street Realty Agents, Claire Ackerman and Scott Strunk.

Why would lenders offer money?  When a lender moves through foreclosure proceedings, they are stuck with one of two options.  They can either settle the debt and accept an offer to sell the property, or they take the property back through the foreclosure process.  The latter can take up to a year to complete.  That does not count for the additional time they now have to take to market the property and sell it.

More often than not, the lender is then selling the property through the REO process for LESS money than what they could have gotten if they had just approved the offer.  In their defense, it’s not always up to them to decide if that is a great decision or not.  Typically, there is an investor that has backed that loan that makes the final call on that decision.

The typical foreclosure process can cost the lender up to $40-$50K, not including more holding costs if they take the property back to auction.  The math is simple, if broken down logically.  Offer $20K to the homeowners to help preserve the property, get it ready to be sold, find a buyer, and approve an offer in a timely manner, OR, spend up to 50K, wait a year to foreclose, then another 3-6 months to sell the property at even more of a loss.

The great news is, we have the ability to negotiate short sales in a timely manner.  Our experience and blooming relationships with decision makers at the lenders allows us the opportunity to assist homeowners get them the best terms possible.  Is your lender one to offer these incentives?

You can get money back to short sale your home.   You can also run out of time to do so…Contact Us today, get the short sale process started, before it’s too late.