|
|
Short sale is an unpleasant experience for an owner
Many hear about the phrase "real estate short sale" and do not fully grasp what it means. If you read the newspapers, or turn on the TV and the odds are high that you will come across stories about declining real estate market conditions and the increasing willingness of banks and other financial institutions to consider real estate short sales as an alternative to foreclosure.
It is not unfair to label the current real estate market one that is undergoing a market meltdown in many cases, and Detroit is one of those. It is because the market is so inhospitable that the need for short sale real estate has gone up so dramatically.
Banks undergo a real estate short sale when they let a property be sold for an amount of money that is less than what it is worth. In order for this to occur, two conditions must be met. Number one, the property's sale price has to be incapable of covering the outstanding mortgage balance. The second condition is kind of obvious, but it dictates that the owners will be unable to continue making mortgage payments on the property.
As an example, suppose a property was purchased five years ago for 217,000 dollars with an adjustable rate mortgage. The owners decided two years later that they needed a second mortgage of 10,000 dollars, bringing their total to 227,000 dollars. Home owners typically have made only a negligible dent in the amount of money that has gone towards paying off their debt in five years. The house might also be in a part of the country where the market values have fallen to a low of 215,000 dollars and their interest rates have gone up from around seven percent to up around eleven percent. Add in the additional problem of one of the owners having lost their job, and you end up with a very likely real estate short sale scenario.
The bank may decide to save expenses and time delays that a foreclosure would cost by simply allowing a short sale. The reason for this is that the banks believe it is better to get the property off their books and accept a smaller amount of money they are guaranteed to get than to accept an unknown amount in the future. If the lenders and owners do not agree on the terms of the sale, complications can result, but in general, that is how the real estate short sale works.
For owners going through a real estate short sale, the experience can be a dreadful one, but there are experiences which can be far worse. A foreclosure, for example, would be far worse to have on your credit report. These short sales can give the smart real estate investor a great buying opportunity.
|
 |
Please Rate: |
|
Rating: |
 Processing ... |
(Average: Not rated) |
| Views: | 33 | |
|
| More Articles from Mortgage | | |
| Top Articles in Mortgage | | |
|
