Key Questions to determine if you’re dealing with a True Short Sale Expert
If you are in the unfortunate majority of home sellers who are upside down on your home and needing to move, it can be a stressful situation. Add to this the complexity of choosing someone to help you. You have supposed short sale attorneys, loan modifications, forensic auditors and more knocking on your door to assist you. On top of that you need to sell your home and of course that means you need a Realtor.
Now you have a new set of questions, do you negotiate, does the Realtor, does the attorney, how do they interact and where do you fit in. What’s it all cost? It’s no wonder that many sellers opt to give up and let the home foreclose.
Before I go into some questions it’s important to put yourself in other people’s shoes to help understand their motivation.
Attorneys
Attorneys are great at what they do. However, when times are tough they tend to add some unnecessary work to their plate because of the creditability that comes with being an attorney. (Some of you are gagging, but if an attorney sends you a letter, you pay attention). Short sales are something that the attorney is immeniently qualified to negotiate, however the real question should be two-fold
- What’s the attorney’s business model? How are they making money on the short sale? Is this disclosed?
- What will the attorney do when their primary business picks back up?
Keep in mind that bankruptcy attorneys know that foreclosures can be stopped in Georgia by a bankruptcy. Their “help” might be a little nudge in one direction or the other.
Loan Modification Experts Or Forensic Auditors
There’s all kinds of supposed third party “help” out there for short sales. The key is again understanding the motivation.
- What kind of fees are involved?
- What’s the success rate?
- What happens to the files?
- Who is actually negotiating this? – most of the time it’s another 3rd party somewhere. How many hands and eyes see your personal information?
Our experience is that most (NOT ALL!) want the upfront money and then spend no time making sure the actual work gets done.
Real Estate Agents
This group is likely the one that genuinely wants to help you the most. In our next post we’ll talk about how to determine if the agents who want to help are actually qualified.
Related Atlanta Short Sale posts:
- Short Sales Affect Your Credit You probably know by now that completing a short sale...
- You HAFA learn about HAFA The HAFA (Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative) programs is going to...
- Do You Have An FHA Mortgage? Short Sales Are A Breeze If you have an FHA mortgage then you might qualify...
- HAFA – Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative – Even More Information If the servicer has not already discussed a short sale...
- Click Here Search for Homes In Georgia
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Great article for people considering their option to forlecosure.