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Short Sale Definition, What is a Short Sale in Real Estate?

Need a short sale definition? Want to know in simple terms, what is a short sale in Real Estate? Well here is my definition of a short sale; it is a way for a homeowner who cannot pay their mortgage or sale their home for more than they owe on it to get out of their house without having it go into foreclosure.

short sale definition
If you are in trouble with your payments and you are unable to pay for your house, then you have two options. You can either let it go into foreclosure and have it get taken away, or you can do a short sale and negotiate with the bank to sell it at a lower price.

If you decide to do a short sale there are 3 steps for you to take.

1. Make sure your lender is willing to do a short sale

2. Find a buyer, fast!

3. Present their offer to the bank.

It the bank or lender accepts it, then you can negotiate the rest of the deal. For instance are you still obligated to pay the difference between what you sold it for and what you owed on it?

In the best case scenario you may be able to walk away from the plan without any obligations and with it having little or no affect on your credit.

Submitting for Approval

Make sure when you submit a short sale to the bank you include things like.

1. Your Hardship, why you cannot make the payments

2. Proof of Your Financial Situation

3. The Buyers offer

4. Information on property such as pictures, square footage, etc.

5. Brokers Appraisal

Ideally you may want to start the short sale process before you are 90 days late on your payment. But this is not a requirement.

Investors

Homeowners cannot make money during a short sale, but investors can! As an investor you may be able to find a property about to go to foreclosure and negotiate with the lender, owner, and a third party buyer to hopefully make money.

For more on investing visit this buying short sale houses page.

If you find yourself in a foreclosure you may want to contact a real estate investor, because they can often help you out for free.

This is the short sale definition, if you have other questions please visit the links below.

Go From What is a Short Sale in Real Estate to Short Sale vs Foreclosure

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