We just closed on our own short sale property yesterday. We stopped paying our Homeowners Dues. They were placed as a lien on the property and paid in the shortsale by the lender.

This is really a situation where you need legal counsel. Beyond the HOA dues, if you have a first and second loan, there might be additional legal exposure.

As an agent that works many shortsales and has experienced this situation with my clients I will strongly suggest that you either pay the HOA dues and get them up to date or get on the phone and start negotiating with the association now on an agreed payoff amount. They can and 99% of the time DO stop the short sale from happening by not releasing their lien on the property if the HOA past due amounts have not been reconciled.

Good Luck

I recommend you be in contact with your HOA and see what they recommend and see if by chance they would take less, probably not but it is worth a try in my opinion. I have heard of a couple of horror stories of a similar situation to yours and the HOA basically foreclosed on the unit. You don't want to be in a situation of being able to sell your condo and then later have the HOA override it and demand payment. The other possibility to see is if your bank is willing to pay the HOA, some may, some will not.

Communication is the key to all of this, it is difficult to deal with but you will be better off in the long run. If you are working with an agent see if they will help make some of the calls.

Wish you the best
Steve R Halvorson

B80Ven,

First up, you should chat with appropriate legal counsel before you stop paying dues. There may be multiple ramifications for doing so including impacts to your credit score which may impact certain employment categories.

Second, if you are *in* a short sale and the person negotiating for you does not know the answer, you need to assess whether that person is the right person to work for you.

The dues will be paid out when the property is sold as part of the settlement. Banks are used to seeing this.

I hope this helps.