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Short Sale Suggestions by Joe Kendall, Broker Associate Realtor with Sandals Realty located in Fort Myers and Cape Coral Florida. I read now and then about people talking about Bank Short Sales about their frustrations or how uncomfortable they are in looking or waiting for a reply on a contract for a Bank Short Sale.

I would like to offer a few questions, I ask the Listing Agent before making an offer on a bank short sale listing.

(1) How far behind is the Seller on the mortgage payments? Many mortgage companies will not get serious about an offer unless the seller is atleast 4 months behind in the mortgage and the bank has already started the process for foreclosure proceedings. 

(2) Has the Seller submited all the required documents to the Lender? The lender will not even give the Listing Agent a reply with out all the sellers required documents. Some banks want the seller required documents and your offer submitted or all at one time. Just knowing the listing agent has a 100% complete package to the lender will speed up the process

 (3) What kind of discussions have you had with the Lender ? This question puts the listing agent on the spot and opens up discussions. If the listing agent is without a direct line to the assigned Loss Mitigation Officer to the file would in most cases result in a longer then normal reply on your offer.

(4)Dose the Seller have a First and a Second Mortgage,  Is the second  it with the same Lender? It takes more time to close a bank short sale with two mortgages and is even more difficult if it involves two different Lenders, the the chances of the deal are greatly reduced, yet some do close but expect a longer wait.

(5) Dose the Seller have PMI ( Private  Mortgage Insurance ) on this property?  Many times this comes out in the very end of settling the short sale , So ask it up front before making the offer. More often then not, the Investor that bought the insurance, will require a promissory note for the balance on his investment, before accepting to close the deal. Most of the time they will not remove their portion of the debt on the property, if the seller can not come to some type of terms on a cash or a payment plan, the mortgage will not be able to be released from the mortgage regardless of the contract price.  

I would suggest you, don't shy away from the bank short sales! Find a Realtor that has experience in purchasing and closing bank short sales. We just need to start these simply dicussions with the listing agent and the answers to these questions, will give a you a better understanding on the direction you should take as the home buyer. 

I hope this information make you feel more comfortable and understanding the questions to ask in purchasing a bank short sale listings. 

Joe Kendall, Broker Associate Sandals Realty
Waterfront ,Foreclosure nad Bank Short Sale Specialist
Phone 239-560-0726 Fax 239-236-0422
Search Homes in Southwest Florida www.JoeKendall.listingbook.com
Read Joe's Real Estate Blog www.SwFloridaRealtorsBlog.com