Our Process

Stage 1 - Consultation & Document Collection

The first step is scheduling a consultation with one of our short sale professionals. During the consultation, a short sale professional will answer all your questions and discuss your qualifications for a short sale. The qualifying questions will be specific to your current situation. We need to gain understanding of the details which support your cause for a short sale and what you are looking to accomplish with regards to the property. If you attempted to negotiate unsuccessfully in the past, we will touch on that as well.

After careful thought and consideration, if you have decided that a short sale is the most beneficial decision, you will be required to sign our third-party authorization form along with a host of disclosures which can be found on our website. The authorization will allow our short sale processing team to speak with your lender about your account on your behalf. Net Short Sale will perform a lender interview to get specific account details regarding the current foreclosure status as well as inquire about any potential upcoming sale dates.

Additionally, you may be asked to submit financial documentation required by your lender. Documents may include but are not limited to: 2 most recent tax returns, 2 most recent bank statements, pay-stubs, mortgage statements, and/or other documentation applicable to your current source of income.

A hardship letter written by the seller will need to describe the undergoing circumstances, describing why they are no longer able to continue with their financial obligation to the lender. Banks want to see a compelling explanation as to why they should take a loss on the mortgage by letting you short sell the home. The reasons should be both frank and honest in their disclosure to the lender.

Once all proper documents are gathered, our processing company will reach out to your lender and initiate the Short Sale process.

Stage 2 - Offer Submission & Negotiation

As part of any Short Sale process the property must be listed for sale. Our processing company will assign an expert Real Estate agent to list your home for sale. The local agent will have the following characteristics:

• Licensed in the state in which the subject property is located.
• Expert in the local market, in which the subject property is located.
• Experienced in short sale listings.

Once the property has been properly marketed, an offer is received and examined. If accepted, a contract of sale is drafted and submitted to your lender for review and negotiation. The proposed contract is drafted by the seller's attorney. The homeowner is free to chose their own representation. If counsel is not available, we can refer them to one of our network attorneys.

To begin negotiations with the lender, a fully executed contract of sale is required to be submitted with a preliminary settlement statement (HUD-1). This document helps the bank determine the costs associated with the sale and determine what their NET income will be from that offer. Our processing company takes care of putting together this document on behalf of the seller and buyer allowing for a more accurate review.

As part of negotiation Net Short Sale will be in direct contact with the foreclosure department and request for the foreclosure proceedings to be placed on hold while they review to determine eligibility for short sale approval.

Stage 3 - Underwriting & Lender Approval

During the underwriting process the lender will conduct a third party appraisal. The purpose of the appraisal is to help your lender determine the current "as-is" value of the home. This evaluation can take place in one or more of the following forms:

* Interior appraisal - Conducted by a licensed appraiser where interior access will be required to enter all units of the property. This will include a full report on the home's condition, comparable properties in the area, and the value.

* Exterior appraisal - Conducted by a licensed appraiser. However, he or she will not enter the property. The report will mostly include comparable homes in the area, which will determine the appraiser's opinion of price 

* Interior BPO - The term "BPO" stands for Broker's Price Opinion. Unlike a full appraisal, this is conducted by a licensed real estate agent from the local market. It's usually the less expensive route for the lender to go, as the agent does not produce an extensive report.

* Exterior BPO - This is sometimes referred to as a "desktop appraisal". This form of valuation occurs when the lender uses automatic computerized data to determine their price or when a hired agent does not enter the property. Instead, they determine their opinion of value by simply using comparable properties in the area. The home's interior condition is usually not a factor in these types of reports.

After the lender advises of their value the initial contract of sale will be reviewed. The bank will either counter, decline, or accept the buyer's offer. Typically an acceptable offer is one that is equivalent to the appraised value or a percentage of the appraisal amount. Please note, most lenders will want to see a required NET offer of 85% - 95% of the appraised figure. 

We will implement our negotiation skills to provide the buyer with several attempts to counter the lender's offer. When an agreement on the price is finally met between lender and buyer, the bank will issue an official approval letter. This letter will contain important information about the terms of the short sale such as; closing conditions, expiration date for settlement, closing costs paid by the lender, etc.

The short sale approval will allow the process to move into its final stage. CLOSING!

Stage 4 - Title Clearance & Closing

Your clean slate awaits.

Once the approval is issued, we will begin coordination with the appropriate parties to prepare the file for closing. Typically, the lender will allow 30-45 days from the time the approval is issued to close. During this time we will be sending out all applicable documents to the lender, attorneys and title company to ensure title exceptions are cleared. Title exceptions are like conditions in a mortgage, they are outstanding items pertaining to the transaction that must be satisfied before the closing can take place. In the event these exceptions include judgements or liens, our processing company will have already begun the negotiations process to obtain settlements of these items.

If for any reason the seller or buyer cannot close in the time frame allocated by the bank, an extension can be requested on a case-by-case basis.

Provided there are no issues as far as title or buyer's financing, sellers and buyers can move forward with scheduling the close of escrow right away. At closing we will present a final approved HUD which will contain the breakdown of the sale as well as all the closing costs associated with the short sale for the seller(s) and buyer(s). Please remember unlike a traditional sale, the seller’s closing costs are paid out of the bank net proceeds. Our closer will go over this important document as well as any other questions you may have.

As your dedicated short sale processing company we will be guiding you until the very end!