What is a Short Sale?

If your home is worth less than the current market value and you have to sell, that is a short sale. You are asking the bank to remove the lien on your home for less than you owe them.   Every bank is different and has different criteria, which changes often, for doing a short sale. It is not an easy process and can be very frustrating. We can help you get through it. We may even be able to get the bank to give us a selling number up front to hurry the process along. The State of Washington Short Sale Seller Advisory  

You may be able to stay in your home. There are a couple steps to take to see if your bank is willing to modify your loan. Many of our clients are currently trying this option.

What is Pre Foreclosure?

That is when you are not making payments and the bank has sent you a Notice of Default. That notice starts the timeline for a foreclosure on your property. DO NOT put your head in the sand and just ignore these notices. Call us immediately so we can help you with the process. We have access to attorneys and accountants that may be able to help you. We will contact the bank and get the ball rolling to try to do a short sale prior to the foreclosure. Most banks are willing to work with the seller but only if there is communication on both sides.

What does it take?

Doing a short sale can be a pain! If you are prepared it will go much easier and much faster. You will have to provide the bank with a ton of information. Our goal is to do it right the first time and then just provide updates as necessary. Below we have listed the information that will be needed to start the process. Some of them have links to blank generic forms. It will be different for every bank but this will give you an idea of what will be needed.

•   Hardship letter explaining why you need to do a short sale
•   Last 3 months bank statements with all the pages
•   Last 3 months pay stubs or evidence of any other income
•  Copy of last 2 years tax returns
•  Copy of all mortgage statements 
•   3^rd Party Authorization Letter
•   Financial Worksheet
•   Income Tax Information Release Form
•  The State of Washington Short Sale Seller Advisory   

 We then put all these forms together along with the listing agreement and send it over to the bank. The last packet I put together was over 80 pages.