Here is a step by step guide to selling your home if you are in foreclosure or if a short sale will be required:
- Determine what your home is worth. We find comparable sales in your area from the last six months. We determine the value that your home will sell for in today's market, less the repair costs and closing costs.
- Start initial paperwork. If you decide after reviewing the Special Report in Step #1 that selling is your best option, we start by signing an Exclusive Listing Agreement and Seller Disclosure Form. (If you have any questions or concerns, we strongly recommend that you seek independent legal counsel.)
- If you owe more than your home is worth, we may need to work with you and your bank to facilitate a "short sale" (a discounted payoff of your loan). You would need to provide necessary documentation such as your last two years of tax returns, your last two month's pay stubs, hardship letter, recent mortgage statement(s), financial statement, and your two most recent bank statements, all of which will be forwarded to the bank. We can assist you in preparing this information. You would also need to complete and sign some additional documents related to the short sale.
- We walk through your house with you and we do a repair estimate and take photos of your house. We determine if your house can be sold to a retail buyer (no repairs needed, or only minor repairs needed) or if it should be sold to a cash buyer. Depending on our assessments, we develop a clean-up and staging plan. We put a sign, flyers, and keybox on your home.
- We develop a marketing strategy for your home and aggressively market it. Our marketing strategies are explained on the Selling page.
- We price your house at the maximum market price (less repair costs) for a minimum of 14 days. If your house does not sell within that initial period, we set a price reduction strategy to reduce the price at specified time intervals and contact all of the buyers that had previously shown interest.
- We receive a buyer's offer and we require them to get pre-approved by a qualified, credible lender. We also send the buyer and buyer's agent a short sale buyer's packet explaining the short sale process, setting the proper expectations, and giving them information specific to the short sale that will need to be included in the Purchase and Sale Agreement.
- Broker's Price Opinion (BPO): If necessary, our short sale team handles the short sale process with the bank (with your consent and subject to other legal requirements) and we prepare an accurate BPO and repair estimate for the BPO agent.
- If your house does not sell within 30 days of the foreclosure auction, we solicit offers from qualified cash buyers, and our short sale team facilitates the short sale with the bank.
If you're behind on your mortgage payments or you've received a Notice of Trustee Sale from the bank, the clock is ticking. The sooner you act, the sooner you'll be able to get this behind you and move on with your life.
Are you ready to get started? Just fill out and send this short form, and we'll contact you to answer any questions you may have and explain how to start the process. Everything will be kept strictly confidential. But don't wait until the last minute!
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