Selling your home in a tough market and quickly after you bought it...

[Krikit 1,164]

Sheesh. Flipping pita, ain't it?

[thetreble 19]

Honestly! I'm not going to get down about it or stressed out though. It is what it is! I'll figure it out. I think I'm starting to realize I have too much responsibility, or at least I feel like I do, in my life. I actually would like to go back to renting and leave home ownership on the back burner for awhile. I'm not settled enough to know where I want to..settle.

[Flames9_RN 358]

Havent looked into yet--but I think you can claim some "credits or deduction son ur annual Federal (maybe state) income taxes! I recall Turbo tax asking me if I had any rental property!!

[Wonderer 0]

This is a good website for landlords. Membership is $70 a year and they run prospective tenant background checks, credit reports and even report your tentants payments to credit bureaus.

http://www.nail-usa.com/

[Krikit 1,164]

Does this mean we will have to call you Lord Amanda? lol

[trailmix 77]

Does this mean we will have to call you Lord Amanda? lol

I never use the term 'landlord' anymore - I always use 'house owner'.

[thetreble 19]

Does this mean we will have to call you Lord Amanda? lol

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

Okay so here is the email I got back from the realtor we bought the house from.

Do you understand what hes saying? It appears he's basically telling me it would be considered a short sale if the house is priced lower than what we owe.

Before I respond to your questions on the cost of selling, etc., I would ask you both - is there any you you can simply stick it out for a few years with the commuting, until the economy settles down? Judging from your note below, you seem pretty adamant about selling. As I am sure you aware, real estate is not a very liquid asset and there is a fair amount of work and expense involved in selling. But.....after giving the decision some very serious consideration, and that is what you both want, then I will certainly be glad to help.

First, in response to your question on owing more on the mortgage than the house is eventually worth in today's market - that is a very common occurrence especially in today's market. Unfortunately, most people in this situation do not have the money that they are short after negotiating the sale, to pay off the balance owed on the mortgage. This is what is commonly referred to as a "Short Sale". This is like a "pre-foreclosure". In this situation, the bank agrees to forgive most, if not all of the money the borrowers are short after the sale (including expenses). The reason why banks do this is because there is much less time and expense involved in getting the property off of their books, in fact, the property never gets on their books in the first place because this process avoids the situation of the bank having to "foreclose" on the borrowers. The formal foreclosure process usually takes a year or more to play out and costs the bank on average, up to $80,000 to complete. It also wrecks the borrowers credit and counts as a "bad" loan for the bank.

In order to try and negotiate a "short sale" with your bank or mortgage company, you usually need to be behind on your payments by at least 3 months before they can consider you eligible for the process. I do have clients who have used "loss mitigation" companies, who are basically third party firms that negotiate the terms of the short sale with the bank on your behalf. The beauty of this is that the bank pays for the expenses associated with the short sale. In addition, there is no negative impact to your credit score. Working something like this out with your bank or mortgage company is more of a long shot in today's economy, but may be worth looking into, especially if you can preserve your credit score and have the bank pay for your shortage.

With respect to your situation, yes, you certainly can come to the closing with a check to cover the shortage amount from the sale. This is the best way to preserve your credit score and get to the closing with the least amount of red tape. Going through a Short Sale with any bank or mortgage company is extremely time consuming and difficult under the best of circumstances.

[Krikit 1,164]

What the heck? It sounds as if your realtor is more focused on foreclosures than sales. What difference is it to him what price you accept for it, as long as you pay what's owed? I think I would talk to another realtor, to be honest with you.

Trailmix can probably help you out more detailed information.... she's pretty educated on all that.

Oh wait. Wasn't someone who responded in here a realtor?

Oh! It was MissMissy:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...t&p=3048648

[trailmix 77]

She is talking about a short sale. However from what you have said that is not your intention at all.

I think she is just trying to explain the short sale scenario to you - ie: if you want to underprice your house, you are going to have to short sale it and hope the bank will forgive the extra money you owe.

The only way you can sell your house for less than it is mortgaged for is:

1. Negotiate with your mortgage company - asking them for a payment plan (line of credit) for the balance or show up, as she mentions, with a cheque on closing date for the balance.

2. Short sell it. Even if you were going to do this, which you aren't - as she says it would probably have to go in to 'pre-foreclosure' and also they would be looking at your finances to see if you really can't pay for it (which of course you can).

Edited June 22, 2009 by trailmix

[Flames9_RN 358]

I have read online that a "short sale" can take awhile to complete so a buyer may not be interested in that.

As well with relator's--which I'm not a huge fan of,lol 1 should interview at least 2 or 3! Some are better buyer agents than sellers!

I used a company in Victoria that was awesome! Paid a flat fee of $700 to them and 3% to the buyers agent! If I, or they found a buyer, I only paid the $700!! Of course it was a sellers market then, and I had multiple offers within hours! Saved a lot of $$$$ I think in present times, with all the resources, there isnt a huge need for a Realtor, but people are stuck with tradition! And yes I know a bunch of realtor's will read this and get al upset, sorry,lol! I truly hate the buying/selling process--everything has to be such a secret, don't want to loose the deal! I would prefer to sit one on one and go over everything about the property! Oh well,thats just me! lol

[thetreble 19]

It would be nice to do it on my own and not get a realtor involved at all. I'm just not sure I have the time.

We are definitely not going with this guy. He charges WAY too much and he wasn't that great when he sold us the house to be honest. I will definitely shop around.

[Tankgurl38 0]

Since my fiance and I are in the process of buying a "short sale" home, from what I have read up on it, if you as a seller decide to go that route, it will hurt your credit rating. So unless you really can't afford to stay in the house and are just wanting to move because of location, I would stay away from the short sale.

Also there is nothing quick about a short sale. We put the offer in on the home we would like to buy the first week of June. The seller has accepted our offer and now it is in their lenders hands, we haven't heard anything from them. We have been told that the banks can take up to 2 - 3 months to get back to you and even then they may reject the offer.