katedavis99

Please understand that the Realtor does not conduct any transaction for free. If you are truly in a short sale condition, you will have to write a hardship letter to the current bank or mortgage institution maintaining your existing loan. The bank or other interested third party will have to approve the short sale to an interested buyer. When the ok is give to the sale, the new lender processes the loan, and the current bank usually conducts the title examinations. Once all parties have agreed to termsin writing, then the purchase and sale agreement becomes a binding and enforceable contract. What doe this mean to you? A short sale requires that the current banking institution has to write down your debt relative to this sale. The bank will examine your current financial condition, and to the extent that you can bring cash to the table from other resource, you will be asked to do so. If you do not have additional resources, then the bank will have to write off the amount that you are "short." In general, the bank will pay the realtor commissions and fees, but will try to negotiated the commission. Most realtors are smart enough to hold firm,because, they did not cause this situation regarding your ability to pay the note. You will receive a HUD from the lending institution, which details the transaction costs. The bank may try to get you to sign a promissory note, for the remainder of the funds, if you have the ability to pay. You will receive a hit on your credit score either way, because other lending institutions need to know about your ability to pay off any transaction. - Fri Jul 4 2008, 12:36

I would suggest that you ask your realtor to do a comparison of the homes that have sold in your area in the last three to four months. The realtor will have to do adjustments on the comparables based on the location, size, condition, and general market conditions. If the last home was truly comparable, and I had looked at the location, size, condition, amenities, and general market conditions, then I would say that $200,000 becomes a ceiling benchmark. I would suggest hiring a roofer to give you an estimate on the roof cost and put that in my pricing adjustments. Most re-roofings cost more than $5000 so I would be careful here. I would suggest that final offer would be around $192,000 all things being equal when the comparables are adjusted. You would need to start a bit lower than that to get to the $192,000. - Fri Jul 4 2008, 12:24