Buyer’s Guide to Purchasing Short Sale Property
A Buyer’s Guide
Native American Group Realty
Short Sales
Key Differences Between A Normal Residential Purchase and a Short Sale Short sales have some key differences than a normal residential real estate transaction. Make sure you know what you are getting into before you write an offer! A Short Sale: Requires BOTH the seller and the seller’s lender(s) approval Sold AS-IS (no repairs) Time Consuming - it can take weeks or months for a response to your offer No guarantee your offer will be accepted Require a Short Sale Addendum to be included with your offer The Benefits of Buying a Short Sale: Motivated sellers Home may be located where you want to live Property disclosures available Most often in better condition than most bank owned properties You could possible buy your dream home under market value Native American Group Realty, licensed VA & NC broker Main Office: 5224 Indian River Road, Va Beach 23464 Direct: 757-986-9126
Are You a Good Candidate to Buy a Short Sale? YES! IF YOU: ✦
Don’t have a home to sell
✦
Are willing to be patient
✦ Don’t need a home immediately ✦ Are not looking for an investment property for a 1031 exchange ✦
Don’t require large closing cost contributions
✦ Are prepared for a rejection to your offer or counter offer proposal based on seller’s lender requirements
WHAT IS A SHORT SALE? A short sale is when there is more debt owed on a property than the property’s value. In a loan default situation (pre-foreclosure), the creditor(s) may be willing to agree to allow the property to be sold for less than the loan amount and/or accept less than (or ‘short’) the amount owed as payment in full.
HOW LONG WILL I HAVE TO WAIT TO CLOSE A SHORT SALE HOME? The answer to that depends on many factors (lender timelines, number of lenders involved, etc.) so each case is different. We usually tend to tell our clients to expect at least 90 days from when our offer is submitted to the bank to actually close on the home. Therefore, if you need to get into your home in a time specific period, please let us know. We won’t necessarily avoid showing you any short sales, but we will prequalify the listing agent of a short sale before showing you a property to see what their time frames might be.
CAN I PUT OFFERS ON MULTIPLE SHORT SALE PROPERTIES SINCE WE HAVE TO WAIT SO LONG ? We do no recommend it. You need to show the seller and the bank that you are a serious and committed buyer of the property. Remember these sellers are facing foreclosure on their home and are often under time limits. If you are not 100% committed to buying the home, we should step aside for someone who is.
Native American Group Realty, licensed VA & NC broker Main Office: 5224 Indian River Road, Va Beach 23464 Direct: 757-986-9126
GET KEY RESULTS.
Work with Certified HAFA Specialist If you are searching for a property in today’s real estate market, it is high likely that you will come across listings that are ‘distressed properties’ (short sales, bank owne d , etc.). It is imp or tant to understand that while they are many benefits to buying these types of homes, there are also some distinguishing qualities that may be drawbacks such as closing time frames. The truth is, short sales can be very challenging transactions. If you are considering including these types of properties in your search, it is important to work with a real estate professional who is trained specifically in working with short sales. There is NO COST to you to work with someone trained and experienced in distressed property sales, however, working with someone who doesn’t have the short sale skill set could be very costly. As a HAFA certified specialist, I have the training and experience with supporting buyers and sellers in short sales.
SHARI ROCKS ME@SHARIROCKS.COM certified hafa real estate agent 757.986.9125 Native American Group Realty, licensed VA & NC broker Main Office: 5224 Indian River Road, Va Beach 23464 Direct: 757-986-9126