Ryan,

What ended up happening on this?

EVERYTHING is "negotiable".

The deal sounds good, but as you said, you should have more than 24 hours to decide. It could be that the "negotiator" has only limited amount of time to spend on each deal, then he has to go back to the pile of files he has of Short Sales. A deal made today, may not be the same one offered tomorrow. The market changes.

If you don't mind losing the deal, offer a Counter Offer to the Buyer, if anything. I would guess that GMAC is not budging.

And, the longer YOU wait, the longer you have a loan against your credit that you probably can't pay.

The ideal situation would be for the Buyer to pay the loan that GMAC wants guaranteed. So, you may want to get the advice of an attorney for YOU, to see how this may be arranged. Maybe the Buyer likes your home well enough to pay an extra $18K as a Promissary Note into Escrow for GMAC?

Talk with the Escrow Agent, the Buyer's attorney, to see if this will fly with the Buyer. Then, all you have to do is to see if it is legal and if GMAC will accept it!

Good Luck . . .

Let us know how this turns out!!!

Well? Did you take the deal? You should have. Remember, the $18,000 is unsecured. You can always "short" them on that loan down the road. You could say in 5 or 6 months, "hey, I'll give you $5,000 now to call this thing good, and not pay it back to you over 10 years." A hundred bucks says that they'd do it too.

Dear Ryan,

I am very sorry to hear about your situation at hand.

It is near impossible for anybody to give advice on such a short notice, especially without understanding every aspect of this transaction.

With that said, an 18k note is ridiculous. They are either bluffing you, or your attorney is not arguing the case well enough.

GMAC will lose considerably more than what they are shorting on a foreclosure or REO. This point needs to be made clear to them before calling their bluff. Sometimes, their negotiators need to be educated and given material, such as comps (including pictures). Without material and education, the negotiators will simply play by the script and try and negotiate the highest note as possible. Sometimes you need to take their hand and guide them through your arguement.

However, situations differ on case by case basis. Are you shorting your 1st? Your 2nd? Both? How strong are you financially? What did the BPO come out to?

These are many questions that need to be answered to understand your situation a bit better. Feel free to contact me with questions or thoughts and I am truly sorry for the situation you're in.

First of all, I would seek out free legal advice. If it were me, I would call their bluff and say NO. It's going to cost them more than $18,000 to foreclose. (Most likely.) By the way...why are you neogtiating this? This is something your realtor should be doing.

Ryan, I would take the deal from the lender and pay back the $18K over 10 years that sounds like a really good deal to me.

Wow! I don't know the answer to your question... but I am impressed that they are willing to forgive such a huge chunk of what you owe on the house! It seems at first glance that $150 a month is a small price to pay for almost $200K in forgiven debt, but I am not a lawyer so don't take my advice! It appears the $18K is unsecured - what is it being used for? The mortgage insurance? Their lawyers fees?

Good luck!
Meredith Laws

Ryan, Let me get this straight-you have a short sale approval for $180k less than what you owe on the property, and only have to pay back $18k over a 10 year period @0% interest, and you are not ok with that? Sounds like a heck of deal to me! I agree, more time to have someone look it over would be nice-Welcome to the world of the short sale. I have had buyers wait for 3-4 months for an approval (20 days is unreal), and once it got approved had to close it in 10 days.

When a lender approves a short sale they either accept less than they are owed and waive their rights to a deficiency judgement or they retain the right to come after you for the amount they lost. It sounds like you are being asked to sign a note for a portion of the deficiency. Either way, signing a note or not, you need to make certain that the lender's payoff statement ,that would have been sent to the attorney/closing agent, contains their statement that they are waiving rights to a deficiency judgement. If you don't, you will hear from them when they take you to court. You then need to decide if paying the note is your only option, or might you instead be able to find a buyer to pay more for the house. Also be aware that in many cases you have to pay income tax on the amount forgiven.

I don't have experience with this type of situation, but it seems like you really should consult a real estate attorney. It just seems odd that you are given such a short amount of time to make this decision. You need the protection of some good legal advice. If you know a real estate agent in your area, call for a recommendation.