You know...I love attorneys. I have a few that I work closely with and they are fantastic. But I have not seen any benefit from the attorneys handling short sales. At leaset in my experience, they have not provided my clients with a shred of value. If any Realtors or clients are experiencing anything different, please let me know.

Gary De Pury
Broker-Owner
Bay Vista Realty
Tampa, Florida

Sydney,

Talk to the attorney assisting you with the short sale to make sure the bank will forgive the difference. In most cases a short sale will involve the seller to sign a note for the difference. Congratulations on getting traffic through the door!

Dear Sydney02,
Your home is beautiful, it is going to appeal to families who are looking for the rural life. I might spend some of my ad. money into reaching the younger family.
Start with the weekly local paper, find out where the Soccer Moms are meeting. Post some good looking flyiers. Have a nature walk around the property for moms and kids. You can get help with that from a lot of
resources. You will be amazed at the number of people and groups who love to do this kind of thing.
Consider appealing to the green world, people who want to grow their own food, etc. Ask the local paper to do an interest article on your family and home.
These are just some thoughts to try. Today you try most everything to help your sellers move on.
Good luck.

You should have your listing broker provide you with a BPO of what your home is worth in todays market. It will show you what similar homes have sold for in the last 3 months and what similar houses are selling for in your area. Price point is huge in this market and especially more in some areas than others. Once the price hits a point that attracts buyers it brings back to the old saying a house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. As far as your short sale, a short sale can take 3 to 6 months, It is not quick and can require daily phone calls to teh bank to get updates and get things done. you will want to make sure you fill out the appliactaion for the short sale quickly and accompany it with your proof of need of a short sale, a letter of your financial situation, bank statements, pay stub and a bpo or appraisal of your home at the price you are trying to sell it at. As well the listing broker will fill out the net sheet which shows teh bank what they will receiv after costs of the sale and a propesed hud from the buyers closing or title company. Then you will have to stay on the bank to order an independant appraisal or a bpo on the banks behalf. Good luck with working things out and getting your house sold.

It looks like the price could be the issue. I would like to focus on the photos.

What photos are listed in the MLS. Remember buyers seaching for homes are using an agent. If the MLS photos are not up to par many prospective buyers will look over it to go on to the next one. Also some realtors will not sent single photo, bad photo listings to their clients. They do not want to waste their time! So while it seams that in this case the issue could be the price, many times it comes down to marketing.

Thank you again to everyone who has given advice and suggestions. I truly appreciate it.
The good news is after dropping the price to 249k, we got two showings today! My realtor said she will let me know their feedback hopefully tomorrow. Dropping it that low definitely put us in short sale territory because we owe 264k on our loan now.
I contacted a real estate attorney in Virginia and he is going to assist us in the short sale. My realtor will do her part and he will do his. Hopefully soon this will be over and we can start putting money into savings rather than paying a mortgage on an empty house!

Unfortunately just a small over price can make your listing invisible. People seem to search in blocks of $5000. Example, if they are looking for a $130000. dollar house they will search $135000. and below. Any home listed $135001. or more will not show up on the search list. Dropping your price by small amounts over two week periods will eventually stimulate showings. Then you will know you are in the right ball park on your price.

Hi Sydney, I feel your pain. We just moved last year from Virginia to Florida and had a very difficult time because of all the foreclosures bringing down the home prices that should not have been affected as badly as they have been.
I would be more than happy to talk to you more about everything we did to see if any of my personal experience could help you. Since it could be a lot of back and forth communication, maybe it would be best to reach me through my website contact email: http://www.fixintomove.com
Best of luck to you and I hope to hear from you!

Also, I wanted to give a big thank you to Don for understanding the benefits of staging!

I would consider the Short Sale because a complete lack of showings is a sure sign that the house is overpriced. Many home owners that bought at the peak of the market in '03, '04 & '05 are left with no other option than to go the short sale route. If you are upside down on the home & can't cover the shortfall yourself I would seriously consider engaging the services of a Realtor who specializes in short sales. Feel free to contact me should you need assistance in navigating these waters.

Sydney: At this point it sounds like you and your Realtor have done your job, but at this point in time you will not receive enough money from the sale of your home to pay off your mortgage, your other expenses and walk away from the closing table without paying money to do so. You've already moved out of your home, so you either need to sell short, or you need to rent/lease your home. Can you actually rent/lease your home for a high enough price to pay your bills and hold on to your home until the market turns around?

If you need to sell now and either do not want to face being a landlord (especially if you are not living in the area), or if a rental will not bring you enough money to pay your bills/taxes on the house and cause a hardship on your overall finances, then go ahead and commit to a short sale, as it seems you are doing. If an attorney handles the legal paperwork in your state, then make sure you employ an attorney who is a master at handling short sales. Also check with an accountant/financial expert to advise you as to how a short sale will affect your overall credit and finances. You may have already done that. Price your home aggressively so that you will sell quickly enough before your bank (entity that is holding your mortgage) starts foreclosure proceedings. A short sale should allow you to walk away from the closing table without paying a dime out of your pocket, including commissions.

More than anything else, I urge you to communicate with those professionals who can help you through this process successfully.

Good luck, be diligent, do your homework, and I hope for your best outcome,
Mary

Sidney: Could you possibly delay selling the house till the market turns around? We have a friend in Gainesville, Fla. who had his house listed for a year, changed realtors, lowered the price, staged, and on and on.... Still no sale, but decided to rent it for a year. He had a lease in two months for a year with an option to buy from great renters. His market is still in the doldrums, but he's paying his mortgage every month from the rental income, and waiting for a good market to return. If you can wait, it 's your best bet.
Give it to a realtor to find a renter and who will manage the property for you since you are no longer in town.

First: what is selling in your market? Are you in the sell zone? You have to determine this first and price appropriately. It may be there are limited buyers, that being th case the only way to "create" buyers is unfortunately through price.

Is it markted properly? In other words what is the internet presence? Thats where buyers are.

Bottom line your realtor should have presented you with a marketing analysis that illustrates what has sold and what to expect. If that has not been done then you should seek others to help. You can speak with other agents without violating your listing agreement, but they cannot initiate the call to you.

Good luck.

Sydney:

Just to address a couple of points you raised in your most recent post:

SYDNEY: We cannot stage the house because we no longer live there.
ANSWER: Sure you can. It's done all the time. Some stagers have an inventory of items. Others will work with a furniture rental company. Many do a combination. It can get expensive for a full staging if everything's rented. So many stagers will do "tableaus"--not a complete staging of a room, but elements of it. And only the critical rooms. I don't know if it would help, or make financial sense, in your case. But I did want to point out that homes that are no longer occupied can be staged.

SYDNEY: I had photos of the empty rooms and I was told that we should stage the house. So I tried to find the best photos I could but since we don't live there anymore, I cannot take any furniture out and rearrange the house.
ANSWER: There are other options, too. Some Realtors and stagers use software programs that start with an imported photo of a room. Then "furniture" (either photos or high-resolution drawings) are sized, positioned, and added. What you come up with looks very much like a photo of a staged room. Another option--one my wife (among, I'm sure, many other stagers) does is use a specialized 3-D architecture program to "draw" the rooms and put in furniture. What she's done, in one property we're selling, is to print out nice full-color images of a staged room, frame them, then hang them on the wall of that room. So you get double-duty: A nice display of pictures on a wall (they look pretty), and an illustration of what that very room would look like with furniture in it.

SYDNEY: My realtor said, that it really is all about price, and people these days don't care about a staged house as much as they do feeling like they got a steal.
ANSWER: Yes, maybe, and no. As is noted below, price is very important. And some people want to think they're getting a steal. But . . . and a BIG but here . . . there's a difference between perception and reality. More specifically, you can MAKE people feel like they're getting a steal, even if they're not. Staging is one way. Using words in descriptions is another. Offering terms is another.

With staging: You create value by showing off the strengths and minimizing the weaknesses of a property. If you have an empty property, it may look like it's worth $240,000. Properly staged, it may look like it's worth $275,000. Price it at $240,000. No steal if it's empty; a steal if it's staged.

With words: Which appeals to you more: "House for sale. Many upgrades. Please take a look." OR "Steal this house! Over $30,000 in upgrades! Owner motivated!"

With terms: Maybe (if you can) offer owner financing. Or offer the property on a lease-option.

Hope that helps.

To answer some more questions,

We have lowered the price to the point that we are looking at doing a short sale. When we put the house on the market, we DID compare homes sold to current homes on the market. The problem is, we are in a rural area. It is very hard to get an idea of what comps are because there are very few sales and the homes that seel tend to be very small homes on large parcels of land or very large homes. So we did the best we could with pricing the house.

We cannot stage the house because we no longer live there. I had photos of the empty rooms and I was told that we should stage the house. So I tried to find the best photos I could but since we don't live there anymore, I cannot take any furniture out and rearrange the house. My realtor said, that it really is all about price, and people these days don't care about a staged house as much as they do feeling like they got a steal.
When we bought the house, our kitchen didn't even have cabinets. The former owners had shelves on the wall. We completely renovated the entire kitchen and really the entire house. We put about 30k into the house. Unfortunately buyers don't care about that. Especially in rural Virginia, most buyers would rather buy a house that has 1980's decor and colors but is priced lower.

To answer another question, our house is on Realtor.com and should be on every MLS search engine.
Before signing with an agent, I personally went around to our neighbors and told them our house was going on the market to see if they knew anyone that wanted to buy it. Nope. I could ask my agent about putting fliers in stores and businesses, but she has so many listings, I'm going to bet that she doesn't want to do that. So we are depending on the MLS to sell our house.

Hi Sydney: I'm sorry to hear about your problem. You've already heard the advice below - pricing a home right is crucial and will lead to a successful sale. Has your realtor updated you on what is going on in your market currently. Speaking as an Accredited Staging Professional as well as an Associate Broker, your living room could use a little help (at least from the photo). The furniture is too large for the room, as seen from the picture. Remove some of that furniture. Then take a new picture. The dining room and kitchen look great.

Listing your home in the MLS alone will not expose your property online to any great degree. Is your agent able to put your home on CraigsList, on Realtor.com, and all of the other websites besides Trulia? Have your realtor update those pictures and then make sure that your home is featured on all of the real estate websites.

Take a walk through your home with your realtor. Do some role playing - be the buyer and look at your house with "buyer's eyes". What do you see? What are the advantages, and what are the disadvantages. Play up the advantages, and fix those disadvantages that you have control over and will not cost you anything. Then get those pictures up and showing.

Just remember, price usually wins out. If you need to sell now, get that staging advice, price your home to sell, make sure there are great photos of the property (you may need to hire a professional), be sure that your Realtor incorporates online real estate websites to "show" your property, have your realtor do an open house, and ask also that your realtor host a "Broker's Open", where other realtors preview your property, like an open house for realtors. Be sure that your realtor asks for written feedback from these other realtors.

Best Regards, and I hope all of the info we've given you helps you to a successful sale.

Mary Harwood

First, read your contract with your Realtor. Do you remember them going over agency disclosure with you? As a client, your agent owes you loyalty, confidentiality, accountability, disclosure and obedience. If you have asked for something to be done, that doesn't require them to break the law, they should do it. Have you asked them to take fliers to local business'? Another marketing tool I have found useful is knocking on the neighbors doors and providing them with fliers of the property. You never know when someone they encounter may be looking for a home just like yours. If you haven't had an open house that would be something to try, although open houses interest has wained during the summer carefree days. It still gives the Realtor an opportunity to knock on doors and invite neighbors to your home who in turn may tell someone about your home. Make sure your listing is appearing on major real estate websites as well. Because of the amount of money you have put into your home, you may have outpriced yourself. Have you checked comparable prices in your area to see if you are overpriced based on the market?

sorry to hear about your home value... stories like this are tough to hear. As well it's obvious that every penny counts to you while your marketing for a sale but the 'what if' factor is what's caused many people to hang on unrealistically until the bank finally puts a lock on your door. You've heard it before but the term "Take Your Losses" applies here more than ever... The cost for a Realtor will likely far outweigh the savings you'll have from selling it yourself (since selling it yourself could cost another 60 days).

Best of luck wherever all this great Trulia advice leads you!

It is hard to evaluate what is currently being done to market the home, from my perspective.
Usually, the price is the key, as you probably know. I suggest you ask your agent to run new comparatives of actual sales and pendings in your immediate neighborhood of the past 3-6 months. Then, get in the car with your agent, and go look at the three to five currently active homes that most closely match your own home in location, amenities, size, and condition. This will take a couple of hours of your time, but you will know if your home is appropriately priced. Above all, try to be objective in evaluating your home versus the other homes. Your Realtor probably has lots of training in these areas.
Good luck. It's a tough market out there, but homes are selling.
Mike Collins

Price is what matters in this market. The majority of the homes that are selling are bank owned and short sales. About 30% are selling at what might be called "normal" prices but those homes typically have something that stands out from the others. Such as a pool, major upgrades or premium homesites. I hate to see sellers continue to have to reduce their prices but if they must sell, price is the issue.

I don't have to know your area's market to share with you that today it is ALL about price. Your house looks really nice but ultimately all of the marketing in the world can't move an overpriced home. Buyers today are no longer primarily focused on falling in love with a house - they want a deal to brag about around the water cooler at work. I am sympathetic to your situation but in order to preserve your credit it may be worth several thousand dollars out of pocket if it gets buyers in the door and gives you the opportunity to receive offers before more desperate measures must be taken. Best of luck.

Aloha Sydney,

The property has not been merchandised properly. A professional stager can make a huge difference in how potential buyers emotionally connect with the property. The country decor is cute but not everyone cares for it and many buyers have a difficult time getting past the frilly curtains. Remember your selling a product that needs to appeal to as many people as possible. Some of the rooms appear empty which doesn't help either. I can recommend a stager in your area if you would like. Bets of luck!

Sydney,

First, I like the house. I am not familiar with your area, but I have to say that the low ceilings are the first thing that I noticed. This would not fly in my part of Florida, but the charm of your house should overwhelm this aspect.

Here is what sells a house, in this exact order.

Price, access, photos, REALTOR, Seller.

Price........I don't care how nice the house is....if it is out of my price range, I am not looking at it, and it it is in my price range, I am looking for the most house for the money in MY RANGE. I am not buying the 3/2 pool home in the wrong school district for 250K when the same home is available for the same amount in the right school district.

Access....REALTORS are slightly lazy....OK not all of us, but when I am scheduling appointments to show houses and I am trying to fit 11 houses into my 6 hour showing day, I pass over the house where the REALTOR doesn't call me back or is not on Lock Box. Those same two houses above....now the one in the wrong school district is looking more attractive to show if I can't get into the other one. (hint...Lock Box and show anytime...!!!)

Photos...Why did you buy your house....I am no Great Carmac, but I am betting that the kitchen had something to do with that, yet it is the 8th picture in your scheme. Hmmmm... Kitchens and baths are called House Candy for a reason....adjust your photo array. Looking at your kitchen photos, I didn't see any cast iron skillets, they add a ton of charm to a home of your type, so get one...but use it to beat your REALTOR into submission. FORCE HER to change the photos as soon as possible. The first photo should be the front of the house and the second should be the kitchen. No if's ands or Butts....

Finally, REALTOR...a good one will work with and not against. Call her out and sit her down and interview her for the listing....Catch my drift....tell her that you are interviewing agents and that she is actually sitting for an interview....when you see the panic in her eyes as the recognition sets in that she has to start making promises to you that you and she both know she made before and didn't keep....well....that should kind of get you both on the right track.

I guess that is about all I can add...After all, I am no. 111 or something, but I sure help this helps you in some way.

If ever you should need...."i'm in the book"

Gary De Pury
Broker-Owner
Bay Vista Realty
Tampa, Florida

I disagree with Reduce, Reduce, Reduce...please don't give your house away! I say Rent Rent Rent...
Rent it out and wait out the bad market. You're only going to get a spec buyer who will just flip it.

Also...we've had over 110 answers this rather basic question.
Can we start on something new now?

How about this...
"When is it time to start your own brokerage company???"

You cannot change a location. Location reflects the location in the city, the community and the lot.
You can change condition...if the condition is fantastic, then your agent should have better photos...if they lack the eye for good photos, take them yourself and email them to the agent. You should never have to do this, but...that's a quick way to get your photos right.
The market for sellers is saturated. Competition is fierce. I don't know anything about your location. Your condition according to your note, is like a brand new house.
Price reflects condition and location...and when they say it's not about the price, unfortunately, it's usually about the price.

There are many things a good agent can do other than simply put a listing into the MLS. Today many prospective buyers search the Web rather than visit homes to narrow down what they truely want to see. It is much more important to have a great web pressence with photos and something to catch the prespective buyers eyes. Make sure your agent/broker has a good web pressence with your listing. Also get your agent to put out "eye catching" flyers at local stores and in your community. Make sure your house is out there in front of the public! Price seems to be the biggest issue with any house out there in today's market. You want your house to be slightly below the current market...your agent should be able to demonstrate where your property is relative to other similiar houses so you can get it competitively priced. If you are out in the country it is really hard to do Open Houses, but you and your agent should discuss buyer incentives, maybe offer an agent incentive for anyone bringing in a full priced buyer. Todays market is very difficult to navigate but with perserverance, and proper pricing and marketing of your house, you can still get a fair price.

The best way to sell your house is reduce,reduce,reduce! It is a buyers market and if no one has come that means they think the price is to high. I know you don' t want to hear it, but put yourself in the buyers position.

Thank you so much for your well wishes. I will definitely keep you all posted. I need this thread for my sanity.

My realtor sent me an email asking me to confirm the price drop. I replied and asked her again to please update the outside photos. My husband was really angry that I have to keep asking her. I mean, even if she doesn't think it's necessary, just humor me, will you? I sent new photos in an email attachment so its' not like I'm asking her to drive to our house and take them herself. Let's hope that she gets them updated. My husband will not be near as nice as I am if he has to ask her.

I'm going to give her a chance since we are dropping the price. I just don't want the confrontation of trying to get out of our current contract. I know she has put time and money into our house. My biggest complaints have been not giving me weekly updates unless I ask her first and not updating the photos when I have asked several times already. But I'll give her another chance to prove herself. Now that the price is lower, maybe we'll get some showings.

Hi Sydney,

From following this thread, it seems like you have done everything you can to keep from doing a short sale. I wish you all the best and hope that your attorney will be able to keep your credit up. It also seems like you are still frustrated with your current agent. As I have said before, we can advise you and tell you what we think is best, but in the long run the final decision is up to the client. You hire us and therefore we work for you. Price is always important when selling, but so are first impressions. 80% of buyers start thier search on the internet. You want to grab them as quickly as possible. Pictures play a large part in that. You want to be the shinny penny in this market. What I mean by that is if you have a handful of pennies, they are all the same, but which one stands out? The shinny penny does. That's what your house has to be in this market when the inventory is high. Don't feel bad about finding a new agent. If your agent does not want to work with you, find someone who will. If my clients want more pictures, I take them. If they want more advertising, I do it. Open houses, ok etc. We work for the client, not the other way around. I have shoveled snow and cleaned toilets to make my listings look better. As agents, we do what our cllients ask of us (within reason). You need an agent that will help you, especially through this stressful time. Our job is to make this process as smooth and easy as possible. I wish you and your husband all the best and hope that everything turns out ok. Good Luck!

Linda obviously gets it.

Good luck from me as well Sydney.

Dear Syndney,

I'm so glad you hooked up with an attorney and wish you all the best.

As far as your pictures go.....................they definitely matter. And snow in pictures during non-snowy months screams OLD LISTING. The first question my buyers ask is "What's wrong with the house." Price may also be a factor, but definitely change those photos.

Linda

As far as advertising, that was the whole point of signing with an agent and getting listed on the MLS. I'm not in any way relying on my house website to attract people. It's only there because so many MLS listings only allow a limited number of photos and information. It's my agent and the MLS that is supposed to advertise my house. I had just read some articles stating to create a house website to use in addition to listing it with the MLS. As of now there are 3 ways people can see our house website: through my agent, the sign in front of our house if they drive by, or if they look on Zillow it's in the description. Whether it's helping, I have no idea. But I know when we were house hunting, the more info on a house, the better.


I spoke to a real estate attorney yesterday and he is going to assist us in the short sale. He said the realtor will do her part and he will do his part. He said he will attempt to ask for some type of repayment plan with the mortgage company in exchange for reporting our loan as paid. He said he can't make any promises and some mortgage companies won't do anything but a traditional short sale .
We can't get a personal loan to bring the money to the table so we have no choice to do a short sale.
The price has already been lowered and now we just have to sit and wait for a buyer. This whole thing is really heartbreaking. I just pray that the attorney can work something out so we can pay the mortgage company back and save our credit.

And to answer another question, I know that the amount of upgrades you put into a house don't necessarily equal the market value of the home. I mentioned the house being remodeled and how clean the house is so people aren't thinking that maybe the house isn't selling because it's a dump. I know price is the most important thing these days but there are other things that can turn a buyer off and I wanted to address that our house is definitely in great shape so I don't think that was the issue.

I spoke w/ our realtor yesterday and told her to lower the price and prepare for the short sale. I did ask her to please change the photos ( this is the 4th time I'm asking) and get rid of the wintry and dreary looking ones. There are two that I don't like. One is of the back of the house and the other is the garage. They both happen to be photos that she took herself. The other photos I took and emailed to her. So I asked her to please take those two down and I'll send her some nice green, summer photos to put up. She got a little snippy and said "It's really the price. It's all about price. The photos don't matter." I'm sorry but I thought when trying to sell a house in a slow market that ALL things matter. Yes I know price is important but doesn't presentation count for something?

Hello Sydney: From reading all the answears you have recived I have pretty much figuered out your situation. A short Sale will be beneficial to you since you do not expect to buy another property for two years. Your credit will be saved if you locate a Realtor with the rigth certification to do the job for you (CDPE). He will negotiate with the bank to aprove the offer based on market conditions and the difrence between your mortgage and what is sold for it to be accepted as settelment in full. Consult with accountant as to tax liability on the difrence. Please note you must quality for a short sale: a) Proff of hardship b) Insolvency c) Be upsidedown on mortgage Call me if you would like me to refer you a CDPE and good luck
Ian A. North
Realtor
Keller Williams
305 467 1881
iannorth@kw.com

david, my point was creating the website is only a small part of advertising, if now one sees it no matter how great the website... it can't do what was intended by the creator. in order to draw people to it, requires more advertising so people know it exist. otherwise what's the point? not everybody knows to search trulia some will go to other portals,MLS, or company websites. yes i saw it in the questions but how many others will? especialy how many buyers in that property's location? does the seller have syndication of other portals? if not, it could be considered worthless that is my point...no matter how fancy or informative if no one sees it it doesn't matter

Tom, you viewed the website along with other agents and consumers on Trulia(therefore not worthless). Sydney must be doing something right.

As I am not in your marketing area, I cannot speak to the appropriateness of the price at which you are marketing your property. However, I think it would be very beneficial to you to ask your agent to take you to 5 or so of the most comparable competing listings in your market. Look at these homes through the eyes of a buyer. Make some honest comparisons with your home, and see where you think your home "ranks" with competing homes in the price range. You may also notice things that you could do to "improve your ranking" among the competing properties, that would cost you little or nothing. You will get a feeling for the market yourself by doing this, and if you are honest with yourself, be able to decide whether your home is priced right. Unfortunately, how much you owe and the cost of improvements don't have anything to do with market value. Best of luck to you in selling your home! Bernie from Montana

Sydney, I understand. Really. You are just like many, many other Americans who are stuck in this real estate market. :-( Wish you the best of circumstances. Please keep us posted.

a website is great...however if no one knows where to view it it is worthless...advertise it, or have your agent do it besides that is what they get paid for.... if your are overproced for the market it will not seel unless it is unique or special...otherwise the market determines the price not the realtor of the owner...don't you shop for a car by looking at most everything on the market in your price range? doesn't a buyer do the same thing? and isn't this a lot more commitment than a car? lower your price or stay "on" the market not "in" it

I will definitely call a real estate attorney in Virginia tomorrow. I need to know this week what we are doing

"Sydney, if your agent thinks it is overpriced, drop the price. I know that isn't what you want to hear. I'd drop it to 249,900 or even lower to $229."

We do plan on dropping the price, however, dropping any lower than it is right now puts us upside down to the point beyond where we can bring money to the table. My husband and I want to avoid a short sale if we can. That is why I'm looking into getting a personal loan or having an attorney negotiate some type of payment plan. If we can't do that, then we'll have to to a short sale.
I just don't think that I should drop the price before I know how I can make up the difference in money. We owe 264k on our loan plus we will have realtor commission to pay.

We are renting right now in CT. We would like to buy something within a year to 1 1/2 years and that's why I'm trying to avoid a short sale. We made some bad financial decisions years ago with credit cards and getting in over our heads. We've spent the past 5 years trying to rebuild our credit. The thought of doing a short sale and seeing our credit take a nosedive again, just makes me ill. I need to know that we have exhuasted all possibilities before doing a short sale.

Sydney, if your agent thinks it is overpriced, drop the price. I know that isn't what you want to hear. I'd drop it to 249,900 or even lower to $229. At this point it doesn't matter what you've put into it. I know that sounds horrible. But the market is what it is and "hope" that it sells for the price you need it to sell for probably isn't going to happen.

Have you already purchased a home in CT?

Dear Sydney,

I agree strongly with Annette on consulting with a REAL ESTATE ATTORNEY. Also, I wondered if you tried calling Green Path direct.

If you do have to go with a short sale, the following is a list of some of the circumstances which may qualify you:
1. Loss of job
2. Business failure
3. Damage to property
4. Death of a spouse
5. Death of a family member
6. Severe illness
7. Inheritance
8. Divorce
9. Mandatory job relocation
10. Medical bills
11. Military service
12 Payment increase or mortgage adjustment
13. Insurance or tax increase
14. Reduced income
15. Separation
16. Too much debt
17. Incarceration.

For more information, you may also want to visit the CDPE website.
Linda

Sydney02,
Thank you so much for your clarification. At this time your key objective is to determine if you have a hardship. Let your attorney determine this. IMPORTANT! You can execute a short sale with NO IMPACT on your credit. Your lender may tell you you must be in default 60 t0 90 days before they will talk with you about modificaton or short sale. THIS IS NOT TRUE! (they are reimbursed more for modification in default) Your real estate attorney will be able to cut to the chase, get rid of the call center interference and negotiate attorney to attorney with the bank. More importantly, the 18 years of financial purgatory can be resolved immediately rather than be vulnerable to the good nature of your mortage company.
Sidney, if I am reading correctly, you may not currently be in a hardship, however you foresee hardship is unavoidable and coming soon into your life is this is not resolved. Talk to a real estate attorney and seek advise. Common errors citizens make in this situation involve these questions:
Should you borrow short term, high interest, money to pay your mortgage?
Should you borrow from your retirement to pay your mortgage?
Get your attorney involved while you still have resources to work with.
Wishing you the very best outcome,
Annette Lawrence
ReMax ACR Elite Group, Inc
727. 420. 4041

I checked out that site about a month ago. I answered all of the questions and the answer came back that we did not qualify. It didn't tell us why though. It was only like 5 questions and for whatever reason, we didn't qualify.

Hi Sydney,

Try this site: http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/eligibility.html This is a govenment program to help people make their payments. There are two parts to this. One for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and one for people who are struggling. See if one of these can help you out.

"Sydney, if I have heard correctly, you would prefer to stay in your home."


No, we have already moved and relocated for my husband's job. We now live in CT and our house is in VA. The house is vacant and move in ready. That's why the loan restructuring programs they have won't help us.
We are trying to scrape money together to bring to the table. On Wednesday my husband is going to go into work late and we are going to the bank to try to get a personal loan. I just don't have very high hopes.
If there is ANY way I could bring money to the table and not involve the mortgage company I will. I really don't want the hassle of doing a short sale with them.
I also am going to contact a real estate attorney to see if he could help us set up some type of repayment with the mortgage company if we can't get a personal loan.

From what I understand, if the mortgage company allows you to pay them back with a promissory note then your credit is safe? Otherwise, if our credit is going to be impacted like it would for a short sale, I won't bother trying to set up a repayment. The whole point is to protect our credit.

As far as comps, 2 houses in our area sold a few months ago that were smaller than ours. One sold for 244k and the other sold for 254k. The house that sold for 244k was 1200 square feet. The one that sold for 254k was 1500 square feet. Our house is 1800 square feet so I thought that it wasn't overpriced at 279k, however my agent thinks that we need to be priced in the 250k range.
Apparently it is overpriced because we haven't received any offers. As soon as we know how we are going to make up the difference in what we owe vs what we can get, we will drop the price.

Sydney - I think the bank may not understand what you are asking. You are asking for a short sale - you are just asking for the easiest kind to get approved. If you are moving because you can not afford the home, then try to work out a modification/short sale. Being that you are using Coldwell Banker, I am assuming that you are being transfered since a majority of their business in our area is relocations...thus meaning that you have to move. It should not be difficult to contact the lender and tell them that you want to work something out - being that you are only a couple thousand short it should not be that difficult. Before you do, make sure that your Realtor has justified comps and is conservative on the price expectations. Tell your Realtor to be honest with you about a real price - sometimes they tell you want you want to hear just to get your business - and put your trust in them to work hard to get the job done. If they do not get the job done, when your listing expires, hire someone else. You chose them for some reason, so work together to find the solution. You can do it...it will all work out!

Jimmy

Sydney,

Try calling 1-800-550-1961 or go to http://www.greenpath.com I have a past client who was in a similar situation and that is where I directed him to go and they helped him save his home. If you are in a contract with Coldwell and are still wanting to sell, then perhaps they can help you as well.

Linda

Sydney, if I have heard correctly, you would prefer to stay in your home. Also, if I heard correctly, you feel a short sale may be enevitable. If this is true you need to consult a real estate attorney. I'm not kidding. Not a real estate agent, not a mortgage broker or even your favorite uncle...but a real estate attorney! Your attorney will look into circumstances to determine if the mortgage you currently hold was appropraite for your situation. Your attorney will look into loan restructuring...not the ones promoted last year, where you end up paying more monthly than you currently are but a real adjustment in the principle and possible removal of penalty fees if they exist. Your attorney will discuss the five options available, their heirarchy, and the advantages and costs associated with them. What you are not being told about is the great fog of liability you could very easily inherit at any point up to 18 years from the sale of your home. Quit playing around with your future and bite the bullet and get a real plan for your future. If you are located in Florida I can give you a referral to an attorney with whom I have worked.
Annette Lawrence
ReMax ACR Elite Group, Inc
727. 420. 4041

Sydney, part of the problem is that you might be overpriced. What are the comps in your area? Your realtor should be able to give you those. Generally, price a home just a little below the current comps in your area.

The other problem that I noticed is that the house really needs to be professionally staged. While it looks clean and charming, it also looks still too much like "you" and the "you" really needs to be more neutralized to appeal to the broadest range of buyers.

I feel your pain. Really. Please keep us posted.

I don't know the values of homes in your area, but I can tell you that your situation is common across the country. Certainly, if you want to keep your home, than trying to work something out with your bank is the first choice. Be careful though. If the bank has already filed foreclosure on you, you can still work something out with them, but once on a payment plan, if you miss a payment, the bank goes right back to the foreclosure at that moment's time. You don't get the extra time you have been making these revised payments.
Next, a short sale is not a bad thing. If you already have to come to the table with money, then a short sale is where you should go. The bank takes care of the commision , atty fees, and any other fees you may owe (i.e. property taxes ). You have nothing to lose because you are already not walking away with any money in your pocket. The key to a short sale is to make sure you use an agent that is familiar with the process. For example, some agents will send paperwork into the bank before they have everything for a complete file. This gets you nowhere. A complete file is the best.
Good luck to you.

Dorit Katz
Realty Teams
Pomona, NY
845-642-0835 (cell)

Try everything possible with your current bank including sending them a letter or something proving hardship as to why a payment plan is very much needed so that you can keep your residence. If your current bank does not cooperate, why not speak to a mortgage broker, they have access to many banks and maybe just maybe one will come through and thus a refinance.