You Can Sell Your House
For Less Than You Owe
Pay Nothing/Owe Nothing
And Avoid Foreclosure.

Dear Home Owner,

If you are suffering from a financial hardship and are unable to pay your mortgage due to circumstances beyond your control, you may qualify for a little-known program that most banks offer where you can sell your home for less than you owe, pay nothing, owe nothing and avoid foreclosure.

Listen carefully and read this through to the end as I tell you how you can take control of your situation so that you can avoid foreclosure.

What ever the reason, divorce, separation, illness, job loss, relocation, death in the family, loan fraud, property devaluation, etc., if you cannot sell your house for what you owe on it (including the cost of selling the house) most banks will consider taking less than is owed to them on the mortgage as payment in full. You will be able to sell the house and walk away without paying anything, without owing anything, avoiding extreme damage to your credit and without having your house sold at a foreclosure auction by the Sheriff.

Let's set a couple things straight. Your lender does not want your house. Any conversations you have with your lender at this point will revolve around how much you can pay and when. The people you get to speak with are debt collection professionals. They have only one thing in mind: getting you to pay what is owed. If you can pay, then pay it. However, at some point it becomes apparent. You can't squeeze water out of a rock and you can't spend money you don't have. Around 60 to 90 days from that point you will be in default on your mortgage. Your lender will soon start the foreclosure process if they haven't already.

You can sell that house that you owe $150,000 on for say $125,000 (talk to me about real-world examples), what ever a ready, willing and able buyer will pay, and the bank will often consider taking that and calling it even. You walk away from the house with no money and no debt. In most cases it shows up on your credit report as a settlement. And you avoid having your credit wrecked by foreclosure.

Banks do this all the time. It's a business decision for them. They want to avoid foreclosure too. It is costly. It is time consuming and it keeps them from making more money on the cash that is tied up by the foreclosure process.

It is called a short sale. It may be your single best solution to your current problem. And there are only two small pieces of the puzzle left for you to get: A real estate professional like myself to guide you through the process and assist in the negotiations with your lender and a ready, willing and able buyer.

I bring the solution, the professionalism and the avenue for finding a buyer.

What's the catch? It's healthy to be skeptical. As a Realtor® listing your home I am paid out of the proceeds of the sale of your home. That's right. The bank takes less than you owe them and they pay me to represent you. You don't write a check and you never have to reach into your pocket. In fact, if you have an FHA mortgage you may be able to get a small amount of cash back at closing, usually about a thousand dollars.

Now the questions start popping into your mind. What if my house isn't worth what I owe on it? What if my house needs repairs? How long will this take? What if it doesn't sell? What if the bank refuses to negotiate or declines to accept an offer?

One at a time:

House isn't worth what you owe - that's the kind of problem that a short sale solves. You list your home and get an offer. You get the best offer you can and you make it subject to the bank's approval. It is up to the bank to accept it or reject it.

House is worth more than you owe - it may not be worth what you think it is. Just because you paid $185,000 for it and the county auditor is taxing you as if it is worth $185,000, that doesn't mean it is worth that much. Sad but true, home values do go down. In the end, your home is only worth what a ready, willing and able buyer will pay at a given point in time. But if it really is worth more, you simply sell it and pay off the mortgage.

House is worth nowhere near what you owe - in today's market this is a far more frequent scenario. But don't be afraid that banks won't deal. They often do. The market value of the house is what it is (determined by comparable recent sales) and the bank knows this. Different banks have different guidelines but I have commonly seen banks take 67% of the amount owed them and/or 88% of the appraised value. In extreme cases I have seen settlements for as little as 40% of the amount owed.

House needs repairs - it doesn't matter. In fact, a house in need of repair often prompts a bank to negotiate more quickly and under better terms. The buyer who is getting a good deal on the house will need to make the repairs.

House has a second mortgage - while second mortgages do complicate a short sale, they don't make it less likely. Often the second lien holder would get nothing if the property is foreclosed on. They are often willing to settle for a very small fraction of what is owed to them.

How long does it take? - I've had listings for short sales go into contract in as little as 5 days. A house priced right should get multiple offers in the first 30 days. But all contracts are subject to bank approval and this takes time, often more than a month. They need to consider your qualifications for their specific short sale program and determine whether the net amount to the bank is acceptable to them. Banks are bureaucratic in nature and can sometimes take months to settle.

How long do we have? - Currently from the time you get your first foreclosure notice until the time your home is sold at Sheriff's auction is about ten months. Industry analysts believe this time will get longer as the number of foreclosures is projected to increase. In most cases that is plenty of time to list your home, find a buyer and get the bank to approve the short sale.

House doesn't sell - Lower the price. If the house doesn't get offers, the price is too high for it's condition and/or location. We will lower the price. At this point you shouldn't care who buys your house or what they pay for it. All you should care about is if the bank approves the deal and that you don't have to bring any money to closing.

Bank rejects short sale - Try, try again. There are two reasons a bank would reject a short sale. One, you have the money to pay them…. I know you would if you did, because there are certainly better ways to spend your time, or two, the sale price did not fall within their specific requirements. When the latter happens, we simply put your house back on the market and get a higher offer now knowing what the bank won't accept. My office has had a very high success rate with Short Sales. In the end, if the bank rejects all offers and proceeds with foreclosure you have lost nothing by trying.

Will I ever be able to buy a home again? - In many cases the answer is "Yes!" But in reality it is going to depend on your credit and how quickly you can repair it to qualify for a mortgage again.

I know you'll have more questions, but the most important thing now is for you to take action. Call me at 614-323-5146. I'll come over, look at the house and bring the necessary paperwork to list your home. I'll answer your remaining questions and then it's time for you to pick up that pen and put it to work by signing the listing agreement.

All in all, it is very little effort on your part and you risk nothing.

Call now. I can help.

Best Regards, Paul Uttermohlen