Hi All.
I’m trying to get a feel if any investors in various areas of the country are really having any real success with doing short sales.
You hear a lot about the short sale biz strategy being the way to go in this market OR are there much better strategies investors with a low budget should be doing in this market??
In some states, such as Maryland, investors are required to go through Realtors for short sales. I’ve contacted many listing agents (even in a couple of other states as well). I know it’s a numbers game but I’ve been doing this for several months now. Once the agents find out what you are doing, then you will not hear from them again.
If there are any successful investors doing short sales, I’m like to hear what process they have used to be successful in the short sales biz.
Thanks, Peter
I’m working on two short sales right now as I finish a HUD house this week.I would’nt have them as your one and only cause I’ve tried them in the past & gave up after months of back and forth confusion(on the banks end).These two look like they are headed that way too,as they contacted me today to resubmit my offer that I sent in three weeks ago.Really frustrating dealing with people who don’t do their job.Just my 2 cents on them.I would’nt keep them as my only investing venture.Best of luck.
Peter,
We have a number of investors we work with that are highly successful.
The key is to find properties where you offer the net to lender mininum threshold of the fair market value that allows a good spread between the approved purchase amount and the fmv.
Every mortgage loan is owned usually by a secondary market investor (SMI) but is serviced by a servicing lender. Those servicing lenders prefer to foreclose but are required by law and contract to process the short sales. It used to be that approval was based upon a short sale vs. REO comparison, but that was changed over the last several months to the net to lender minimum threshold percentage of the fmv analysis. If you can offer at or above that threshold, provide documents that prove the elements of hardship on the part of the borrowers, do not make the typical mistakes of realtors and investors, and do not give the servicing lender a reason to tank your proposal, it will be approved.
I hope this is helpful to you.
Ken Lawson JD
We close on average 2-4 short sales a month. I live in North NJ. I think the only place it is really hard to do short sales is in Maryland.