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You Have to Short Sell Your Home: Now What?

Nobody wants to sell their home before their mortgage is paid off, but with foreclosure rates at a record high, more people than ever are being forced to short sell their houses. While the process is painful, it can be even worse if you don’t make sure to follow all the right steps. If you’re thinking about short selling your home, here are a few words of advice:

• Tell a sad story. When a lender decides to let you short sell your home, they’re agreeing to accept whatever you manage to sell the home for in exchange for forgiveness of your debts. Many times it’s more advantageous for the bank if they simply foreclose on your home. Do your best to avoid that outcome by swallowing your pride and appealing to their humanity. Write a letter of hardship addressed directly to the supervisor of the department that makes short selling decisions, a letter that details why you deserve the bank’s mercy. If your credit was good and you only recently fell upon hard times (thereby preventing you from paying your mortgage), make this work to your advantage.

• Get an experienced real estate agent. Real estate agents are solidly on your side when they’re helping to short sell your home. Since short-sold homes are attractive to buyers, agents stand to make a sizable commission – but they’re going to have to negotiate with your lender in order to make the sale possible. Since your agent will be lobbying on your behalf, you should try hard to find a realtor who has a proven record of successful short sells.

• Have a place to go. When you short sell your home, you won’t have a grace period after the sale. When the home sells, you must vacate the premises, so if you don’t already have a new residence lined up for yourself, you’ll need a place to go for a while. As soon as you make the decision to short sell your home, you should begin moving your possessions. Contact friends and family members in advance so that you don’t just show up on their doorstep.

When short selling a home, remember that you are at the bank’s mercy. You won’t see any money from the sale of your house, and you might be forced to move out sooner than you’d hoped. But in exchange, your debts to the lender will be forgiven and you won’t be stuck with a foreclosure on your record. The key to a successful short sell is to keep your head up and stay accommodating, no matter how trying the sale is.