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“What is a short sale?” is a commonly asked question amongst homeowners struggling to pay their mortgage payment. Word has gotten out that short sales can help borrowers avoid foreclosure. While this is true, the process is complex and requires authorization from the originating mortgage lender.

There is no simple explanation of what is a short sale. At present, no unified protocol exists, although lenders must abide by certain criteria. Not all properties or borrowers qualify for short selling their property. Nor, are all lenders required to offer this transaction.

Short sale criteria require borrowers to be a minimum of 31 days delinquent on their mortgage note. The appraised property value must be less than the balance due on the loan and borrowers cannot own assets which could be used to repay the debt.

The term ’short sale’ means the bank allows borrowers to sell their property for less than they owe on their loan. Short sales are usually offered when all other methods to save the home from foreclosure have been exhausted. It is important to understand once a home has entered into foreclosure it is no longer eligible for short sale. Therefore, it is crucial for borrowers to contact their lender when they are unable to continue making mortgage payments.

Short sales are handled through each lender’s loss mitigation department. Once borrowers default on their loan, a loss mitigator is assigned to handle their account. This individual is responsible for assisting the borrower to resolve the delinquency. They do not approve or disapprove short sale requests. Instead they act as a mediator for the borrower and lender.

Mortgage lenders usually require borrowers to submit a short sale hardship letter describing events which caused delinquency of the loan. The letter of hardship is an important element of obtaining short sale approval and borrowers should take time to carefully craft it.

Loss mitigators prefer handwritten letters which include a detailed timeline of events, along with any action taken to overcome financial challenges. Lenders are more apt to grant approval to borrowers who lost their job or encountered medical problems than to those who engage in frivolous spending.

The short sale process takes between four and six months to complete. Borrowers will undergo a financial audit and are required to submit a myriad of documentation to the loss mitigator. Some banks require borrowers to have a buyer in place before granting short sale approval. Others will allow the borrower to list their property through a realtor.

When property is listed through a realtor, banks generally grant a grace period of a few months to locate a buyer. If the property is not sold within the specified timeframe, the lender will commence with foreclosure action.

Last, but not least, it is important to determine what type of short sale is offered through the lender. Two types of short sales exist: Deficiency Judgment and Payment in Full without Pursuit of Deficiency Judgment.

Payment in Full releases borrowers from repayment of the deficiency between the sale price and loan balance. Deficiency judgment requires borrowers to repay the deficit. This can be a substantial amount and take years to repay. Judgments remain on borrowers’ credit reports until paid in full.

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Negotiate with only one lien holder is the best short sale scenario, but what do you do when there are multiple liens with the same lender? It has been WHB Solutions experience that negotiating with the same lender can be an advantage depending on the lender.

For example, if both the first and second loans were held by Chase, there is a good chance of getting a short sale closed. If there was one loan with Countrywide and a second loan with Bank of America, it will be hard to get a short sale closed. Even though Bank of America bought Countrywide, they have different loss mitigation departments with different short sale approval guidelines.

We a short sale file that we could not close because Bank of America, as the first lender, would only give Countrywide $3000 in a short sale approval. Countrywide wanted $25,000 and would not give a short sale approval unless this was received. We tried to provide reason and arguments on how Countrywide would receive nothing if the property went to foreclosure and that they are technically the same bank and the overall short sale would net more money than going to foreclosure. Countrywide was so stubborn to get their money, they ended up getting nothing. It does not make any sense.

In a case where you have two loans that were originated from the same lender, it has been our experience that the second lien holder is more flexible. A typically response is that the second lien holder would give an approval for $3000 any day, but no full release or giving up their rights to deficiency is provided. Depending on the homeowner’s situation, they may be excluded from any future deficiency rights. Either they prove insolvency to the IRS or they qualify for the primary residence exclusion rules.

Typically, in any short sale negotiations, getting an agreement from the second lien holder should be obtained before going to the first lien holder. If this is not done, you would not have the right numbers to show what the first lender would net. So to avoid going back and forth with the both lenders, find out what the second lien holder is expecting to approve a short sale first.

In the majority of short sales, the first lien holder is the one who files for foreclosure. Once this filing occurs, many times, the second lien holder would move the loan to their Charge Off or Debt Recovery department. We have noticed that it is much easier to obtain an approval when this happens as the guidelines of providing an approval is less strict. At the point it is in debt recovery, the expectation is that the dollar amount they are looking to recover would be less than what would be expected if it was still with the loss mitigation department. Keep in mind that loans sent to a debt recovery department are sold on pennies on the dollar and there is a high possibility where no money would be recovered.

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