
Ever wonder exactly what the currently popular phrase “real estate short sale” means? Anyone who has read newspapers or watched TV has probably come across some sort of stories about the declining real estate market leading banks to consider real estate short sales as an alternative to foreclosure. In all parts of the country, real estate prices are down and the time it takes to sell properties has risen dramatically. Detroit is one such example of this. A real estate market that is not doing so well is the giving the need for short sale real estate opportunities to grow.
So, what is a real estate short sale? Well it’s when a bank agrees to allow a property to be sold for less than the amount owed on it. In order for this to occur, two conditions must be met. The first condition is that market values must be in a state that the property’s sale price cannot cover the outstanding balance on the mortgage. A further condition is that the owners of the property must not be able to continue making mortgage payments on the property.
Let’s look at an example property that was bought five years ago for the rate of 217,000 dollars with an adjustable rate mortgage. Additionally, the owners took out a second mortgage of 10,000 dollars, which brought their total owed to 227,000 dollars. A five year span of time would result in a small amount of the mortgages actually being paid off. We’ll also imagine that the property value has decreased to 215,000 dollars while the mortgage interest rate has increased from seven to eleven percent. Add in the additional problem of one of the owners having lost their job, and you end up with a very likely real estate short sale scenario.
Rather than go through the expense and time delays that a foreclosure proceeding would require, the bank may decide that allowing a short sale makes more sense in the long run. The reason is that it is far better to have a definite amount of money know and the property off the bank’s books than waiting on an unknown amount of money at some unknown point in the future. If the lenders and owners do not agree on the terms of the sale, complications can result, but in general, that is how the real estate short sale works.
For owners going through a real estate short sale, the experience can be a dreadful one, but there are experiences which can be far worse. In terms of items that would reach the credit report, there would be far worse items, such as foreclosure. On the other hand, a truly savvy investor can take advantage of these short sales for excellent buying opportunities.