A lot of people have written to me expressing concerns about doing a short sale. I am going to explore these concerns in this quick article.

There are three major concerns actually that I hear from folks on short sales:

1. I will just have my Realtor handle my short sale.

That can be a big mistake. Every Realtor today claims to be a short sale expert. Yet every day many people get in touch with me. "Richard, our Realtor isn't selling the house. It just sits there on the market and meanwhile I am running out of money and don't know what to do." Someone else told me "my lender won't approve my short sale. I don't know what to do."

You need information about how to do a short sale. I recommend a specialist firm do the short sale for you. And either list the house with a real estate agent, who will sell the house, or do the 9 day house sale. You can have a real estate agent do the 9 day house sale for you.

I am a great believer in using specialists. It has served me well. That's why I provide information on what I am an expert in, but I use other people to help me in areas where they specialize and are better than I am. I work with a few people who are exceptional at doing short sales and loan modifications. I know what they do and it is staggering how good they are at it.

Likewise there are a lot of people who claim they will do this or that for you, but they simply want to get a real estate sales commission and they do not specialize or have the experience of the true specialists. This is not a knock on Realtors. But it can take hours of calling and strategies that are known by a specialist to work with your lender, and relatively few Realtors can handle this as well as someone who specializes.

 

2. I don't want to do a short sale because I can't handle the tax bill.

I have written about this extensively. You won't face a tax bill from the IRS if the house if your primary residence. Or if the loan is a non-recourse type, which many loans are if you used the loan to purchase the house. Or if the amount you owe exceeds the amount of your assets.

Most people will qualify under one of these three tests and won't face an IRS tax bill for a short sale.

3. I think I'll just walk away. I can't deal with this anymore.

I can relate! But you are better off working things out with your credit than just abandoning the house.

There are two parts to a short sale. One part is negotiating with your bank. The other is to get the house sold.

Here is what I suggest: have an expert negotiate your short sale for you (unless you want to do it yourself.) And have a real estate agent who is an expert at selling houses do the actual short sale.

If you want help in doing  a short sale, get in touch with me now. I have a few experts I am working with and referring people to.