Central Florida Short Sales: October 2008

Hi folks. I'm sure there are many of you that are either doing short sales or want to do short sales. Therefore, I am posting this sample cover letter that may help you when submitting a short sale package to the lender. Just remember, you are submitting a fully signed and accepted contract and asking the lender to remove the 3rd party approval. You are not asking them to accept the offer. The lender is not a party to the contract. The offer has already been negotiated and accepted by the Seller.

Also, check with your Broker and your State's laws concerning short sales. I am a Florida Broker and this is how I handle short sales. This is my opinion only.

*************SAMPLE SHORT SALE COVER LETTER***************

Ref: LN# XXXXXXXXXXX
345 Saint Blasse Ct Kissimmee Fl 34758
Bertha Tutas SSN# xxx-xx-xxxx 

To whom it may concern, 

Following is a complete short sale package. We are requesting a removal of the 3^rd party approval clause in the attached purchase contract. 

Included are 56 pages: 

• Authorization to release information
• Fully signed purchase contract with addendums
• Buyer's pre-approval certificate from Bank of America
• A copy of the escrow deposit
• Preliminary HUD 1
• Current listing agreement with addendums
• Listing history 
• MLS property print out
• Property market analysis
• Hardship letter
• Seller's financial statement
• Last 2 years tax returns
• Last 2 bank statements
• Last 2 paycheck stubs
• Proof of child support payments

My comments: 

This property has been on the market since 01/04/08. It was first offered for sale at a price of $129,000. The property has been extensively marketed on the MLS, Realtor.com, Craigslist, Zillow, Trulia, Cyberhomes, Virtual tours and was syndicated to over 500 web sites. 

Unfortunately, with the market decline, there was no interest in this property. The property has functional obsolescence being that it only has 2 bedrooms, a 1 car garage and sits on a "back flag" lot. With over 1200 homes available in Poinciana and only 30-40 selling per month this property was being overlooked. We slowly started lowering the price, however, trying to avoid getting into a short sale situation, we were not able to price the property low enough for the market to be interested. 

Finally, the Seller, due to the hardship outlined in her letter, had to vacate the home. As hard as she tried to keep the house she could no longer afford to live there. At that time, we reduced the price to $109,000 then slowly reduced every 2 weeks until there was an interest. There were NO showings until we reduced to $59,000. Several days after reducing to this price we received and accepted the attached contract. 

There has not been a 2 bedroom home that has sold, on the Osceola County side of Poinciana, since August and there has only been 2 in the last 4 months. 

Based on current market conditions and the fact that this property is not only functionally obsolete but also a short sale, we feel the agreed purchase price of $60,000 is far better than the price the property will sell for if it is foreclosed on and placed back on the market. We have done everything possible to get as high a purchase price as the market will bare. 

I have 14 years experience as a Broker specializing in selling Poinciana property and on behalf of Ms. Bertha request that Country Wide accept this short sale so we can move forward towards closing. 

Please fee free to contact me with any questions or additional information that you may need. Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter. 

Sincerely,  

Bryant Tutas
Broker/owner
Tutas Towne Realty, Inc
407-873-2747
BrokerBryant@gmail.com

****************************************************

So there you go. Not only do you now have a sample cover letter for your short sales but you also have a list of what needs to go in your package. What do you think?

POINCIANA FLORIDA REAL ESTATE SHORT SALE INFORMATION

POINCIANA FLORIDA REAL ESTATE MARKET REPORTS

CENTRAL FLORIDA REALTOR(r) OPPORTUNITIES

MORE INFO FROM BROKER BRYANT... THE SOURCE FOR POINCIANA REAL ESTATE

Copyright © 2008 http://www.brokerbryant.com/ | All Rights Reserved   

I HATE strongly dislike having transactions fall apart at the last minute. Last Friday, I was supposed to close on one of my Poinciana Florida short sale properties. It was a pretty difficult deal that required almost 3 months of negotiating with Wells Fargo. 

After many days of going back forth on the negotiating of a promissory note we finally arrived at an agreement between Wells Fargo and the Seller and received the written "Short Sale Approval". All was right with the world!!! 

The next step was to make sure the Buyer was still on track by getting a closing date addendum signed. The Buyer signed. One of the reasons I wanted the Buyer to sign another addendum was to make sure they were still motivated to get this deal closed. We also had them place an additional escrow deposit which they did. 

Feeling pretty confident, that everything was a go, I ordered the pool clean up. The pool was a disgusting green and needed to be cleaned up prior to the appraisal being done. 

The pool is cleaned, the appraisal is good and closing is right around the corner. I can almost smell my TLW's check!!! 

Then, much to my surprise, the buyer decides to change lenders two weeks prior to closing!!! Holy crap!! Now I have to go back and get an extension on the Short Sale approval. Fortunately, I had a great loss mitigation negotiator and getting this extension was not an issue.

A few days later I get the updated approval letter from the new lender only to find out they had approved the Buyer for a USDA Rural Housing Loan. That's all well and good except........you can't use that loan program on a house with a pool!! I call the loan officer and point this out and he says "No problem I'll just switch it over to a FHA". Well OK then!!! Just don't forget to mention to the Buyer that he now needs additional funds to close. 

Reluctantly, I have to call my favorite negotiator and ask for another Short Sale extension. This angel grants it immediately and sends me over my second extension.

In the meantime, my Seller is served the "Final Summary Judgement" informing her that the sale date has been set for.......17 October. That's right....it's today. 

I'm sad to say that after getting everything sorted out with the Buyers loan and scheduling a closing for the 10^th, the Buyer decided to NOT close. He got so fed up with the process that the day before closing he decided to walk!!! 

I tried everything I could to assist the Buyer's REALTOR® and mortgage broker with getting the Buyer back on track but nothing worked. The deal died. 

I contacted my favorite negotiator to see what my options were but her hands were tied. The Investor, FreddieMac, would not delay the auction without a new contract on the table. 

So, this morning, at around 10 a.m., my Seller lost her house at auction. 

Folks, working Short Sales can be frustrating. I win more than I lose but it still sucks not being able to win them all. I learned a lesson with this one.....if at all possible, have a back up contract. 

I am not yet an expert at Short Sales BUT I will be. Will you?

POINCIANA FLORIDA REAL ESTATE SHORT SALE INFORMATION

POINCIANA FLORIDA REAL ESTATE MARKET REPORTS

CENTRAL FLORIDA REALTOR(r) OPPORTUNITIES

MORE INFO FROM BROKER BRYANT... THE SOURCE FOR POINCIANA REAL ESTATE

Copyright © 2008 http://www.brokerbryant.com/ | All Rights Reserved