How many other homeowners in Big Bear are behind in their mortgage payments and need to do something to avoid foreclosure?  How many homeowners in Big Bear are finding themselves owing more on their homes than they are worth?  What do you do?  You might want to look into the ideas of selling your home as a short sale.

What is a Short Sale?

Basically, a short sale is a process of selling your home for less than you owe the bank.  In these cases, the bank has agreed to take the proceeds from the sale as payment in full.  More and more, the banks are working with Realtors like me who specialize in the short sale process as a way to avoid foreclosure.

There is a misconception out there that you can buy a short sale property at a large discount.  This is not true.  In some cases, the home owner is desperate and will sign any offer that come along, but there is no guarantee that you’re going to get the property at your offered price.  While it is true that he bank would prefer to sell the home as a short sale rather than foreclose, the bank is not going to give the property away.  I’ve seen the bank walk away from a short sale offer that was $5,000 less than the value that was placed on the property by the appraiser.  Banks won’t give the property away, but they will agree to sell the home as a short sale as long as the offer comes in at value.

Whenever I get a call from a Big Bear home owner asking me for help with a short sale, there are a number of questions that I ask.  One of the many important things I want to find out is if there has been a notice of default filed against the property.  The reason I need to know this is because the once the notice of default has been filed, the sale date for the property is usually not too far off.

Just this morning, a homeowner called and asked me if I would help her sell her house as a short sale. After some discussion, I learn that the notice of default has been filed and the sale date is set for December 30, 2009.  I told the caller that unless the bank is willing to postpone the sale date then there isn’t very much that I can do to help.  I’m still going to speak to the bank and see if we can get the sale date postponed for these people. But it might be too late to stop the sale.

If you find that you’re getting behind in your mortgage payments on your Big Bear property, don’t wait until the last minute before asking for help.  The sooner that you ask for the help in selling your home, the better your chances are of finding a qualified buyer whom the bank will work with. 

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the short sale process.  I am more than happy to sit down and discuss the short sale process with you. You might find that selling the home as a short sale might be the best way to go.