A Short Sale is a type of real estate transaction wherein a homeowner sells their property for less than what they owe the lender. For most lenders to consider a short sale, the homeowner must be experiencing a financial hardship and is unable to make their mortgage payments. Also, the mortgage itself has to be upside down; meaning that the value of the property has dropped and hence there is no equity. The lender takes a loss, and any unsettled balance is usually forgiven. In order to begin the process of negotiating and then approving the short sale, you will need to submit a set of documents required by most lenders. The primary documents are:
• Authorization to Release information. This authorization is an important document because it instructs the lender to discuss your loan with a third party, which in this case is your real estate agent who is helping you navigate the short sale process. The authorization should contain the following data.
a. Name of all the borrowers
b. Social security number of all the borrowers
c. Address of Property
d. Names of lenders/creditors
e. Loan number
f. Signatures of all the borrowers
g. Date
h. Name and contact information of your real estate agent (or whomever you want the lender to release your loan information to)
• Borrowers Financial Statement. This document highlights in detail your assets and liabilities. It is a worksheet that accounts for all your income and expenses. It also should include your co-borrower’s financial information.
• Listing Contract. This is the contract between you and the listing agent. It is needed so the lender can see that your agent has made the effort to expose the property to as many potential buyers as possible in order to received offers by placing it on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). It also highlights the commission charged by the real estate agent. Agents are often needed in order to speed up the process.
• Purchase and Sale Agreement. This is an agreement that contains the accepted buyer offer. The contract should be legitimate and must be signed by all the owners of the property. A short sale package is considered incomplete without this document. Only packages with a contract that has been signed by both the buyer and the seller should be submitted to lender.
