Top 5 Recommendation before you buy a Short Sale house!

Before you sign the dotted line on the purchase contract of a Short Sale, you should make sure you are not wasting your time and energy on a home that might be heading to foreclosure in a few weeks !   Short Sales are complicated transactions that require a lot of experience on the part of the Short Sale listing agent.   So, be sure your agent inquire about these items:

1) Notice of Trustee (Auction) Sale:   Ask the San Jose Short Sale Listing Agent if a Notice fo Trustee Sale has been posted on the property. Also known as Foreclosure Auction this make it a lot tougher for your Short Sale offer to be accepted if you have a looming deadline.   Granted it’s possible to postpone these sales, but without knowing how many times this sales has already been postponed, there is no grantee that the lender would stop the foreclosure.

2) Notice of Default (NOD):  If an NOD has been filed on the Short Sale property that you are interested in buying; then you have a short time before the property could be sent to auction.  Property Radar publishes data on how long it’s taking for banks to foreclose on a property, but those are industry averages and can’t be a serious guide to help you develop your buying strategy.

3) Hardship:  Your agent should contact the Listing Agent for the Short Sale and discuss the nature of the Financial Hardship.   Just because a home’s value has declined that dos NOT mean a hardship.   Only write offers on homes where the owners have a legitimate hardship.  

4) Pubic Records:  Confirm the status of the property with the public records to make sure the property has not already been foreclosed. We have lost count on the number of times when we shocked the Short Sale Listing agents with the call that their Short Sale has been assigned to us as an REO!  

5) Cooperating Seller:  Make sure the home owners are cooperating with the Short Sale listing agent.  If the owners have left the area and have abandoned the home, how are they going to sign papers to close with your offer on their San Jose Short Sale?!

Bottom line is to find yourself an agent who has done plenty of Short Sales and has contacts with the lenders’s Short Sale Managers.  For instance, before we accept any Wells Fargo Short Sale, we will contact Kay Mauer who is the Short Sale Manager at Wells Fargo and inquire about the chances of a quick approval.

It helps to have connections and Short Sales are no different.

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