OK… I am venturing into the storm of short sales… I have decided that standing back and steering at them is not going to help me… the best thing to do in jump in and get started… I have read quite a bit of info, but reading is not enough… My first question is, my understanding is that when you first get started you should send a hardship letter to the bank letting them know why they should shortsale the borrowers home… Do I as the investor write up this letter and have borrower sign it, or do I have borrower write this letter, which is the best route to go… Also, I am in the Orlando florida area and am running into quite a bit of short sales., if any investors out there that is local to my area and would like to team up, so we can work together and I can learn the shortsale game from them, please let me know, you can drop me an email, or just respond to the post…
Thanks…
Seller writes it…
Here is a copy of what I give to the seller as a guide only…
{Seller’s new address}
{Loan Number}
Dear lenders,
I need your help. There have been some changes in my life. Last year, when I bought my new home at {where you lived}, everything was going great. That was up until a couple of months ago { tell a story of what happened ex.) mortgage values dropped, rent doesn't cover mortgage, lost job, somebody got sick, business failed. ( the more details the better )}
I can no longer continue to pay the mortgage on my house at {house address}. After trying to sell my home I realized that I have no equity and I owe more than my house is worth. I spoke to Real Estate agents, and they would not list it for me because they said it wouldn't sell. I am running out of options and I am afraid I will lose my house. I called some investors but they told me that they couldn't buy the house because I didn't have any equity and it needs some work, or my house has been listed for X months and all offers I received were below my payoff amount.
I had been thinking of filing bankruptcy after friends and family said that it was the only way out from under this house, when luckily I found a buyer who said that you might consider a "short sale" or reduced payoff. Please, please, please work with this buyer. This is the only person who was shown any interest in helping me and has kept my hopes up which keep me from filing bankruptcy. I am a responsible person who has always paid my bills, and I worry about what will happen if this option doesn't work.
Thank you so for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
{Seller’s Signature}
I created a complete short sale utility that automates the process… Fairly easy to spit out a package
Good Luck
A short sale letter is used when a homeowner facing foreclosure has (1) a potential buyer and (2) the amount offered isn’t enough to pay off the mortgage loan. Its often confused with a “deed-in-lieu of foreclosure,” which is used when there isn’t a buyer for the property and the homeowner wants to give the lender the deed instead of (in lieu of) foreclosure. Don’t send a short sell letter if you’re asking for a deed in lieu. A lender won’t consider a short sell unless you have a buyer at hand.
I first have the homeowner write the hardship letter in their own words and sign then I re-write it (because the homeowner either isn’t sobby enough or don’t explain their self properly) and then they also sign my write up. I’ve used Michael’s letter (but I’ve changed it up) and it works very very well.