Short Sale - Mesquite,TX

I don't know anything about that, but I know a realtor who specializes in that. I recommended her to another mom on here who was selling her house and she raved about her. Let me know if you want to contact her.

A lot of neighborhoods are going down hill primarily because of short sales and foreclosures. The homes remain vacant and substantially decrease the property values of the existing homes. Lower property values often mean lower property taxes collected and on foreclosed and short sale homes, no taxes are collected for a long time. This lack of funds affects the schools because they rely on..."taxes" to support them. For every home that forecloses within 1/8 miles of all the surrounding homes, it negatively affects each surrounding home values by at least -$1600 loss or -.9 percent loss. In a low or moderate home tract, home values decrease even more by -1.8% for each short sale and foreclosure. Consider that for one moment when you think about all the short sales and foreclosures.

So when you complain about plummeting neighborhoods, home values and schools, those that did things the right way are the ultimate losers. Here's my story: My home that I bought in 2001, in a great neighborhood, have made, often struggled with the loss of a job even, all on-time monthly payments and I didn't use my house as my personal "piggy bank"--even though I could have--as evidenced by the incessanty calls by greedy mortgage lenders wanting to cash in; well my home now is actually worth substantially less than when I bought it more than 10 years ago.

A lot of the homes around here are empty now--and in a state of disrepair. There have been several homes in my once nice neighborhood that homeless people were squatting in. Other homes are often vandalized and gutted, more have green and disgusting pools that breed disease-spreading mosquitios. I can't afford to sell, not because I am underwater, but because it would cost me more to sell and move than stay here.

I used to consider myself a "bright and intelligent, common-sense" type woman that I didn't sign one of those subprime loans, cash in and use my home as a piggy bank. But now I wonder if I would have been better off? If I refi'd back in the day, got cash back, I would have a few hundred thousand in the bank, my credit would have already recovered since 2005. Even if it didin't, I would still have a few hundred thousand in the bank and I could now buy my a better home in a better neighborhood for less than what I paid for my home.

But no, I had to do things the right way...

And the falling home value does not seem to be stopping anytime soon. I remember the day when owning a home was part of the American dream...

Who knows? Maybe after living here another 5 and making on-time payments for 15+ years and never doing those crazy loans, and supposedly being on the path to real homeownership, our home will be worth less than what we owe.

The American dream becomes the American nightmare.

If I remember right they told my dad he would have to claim the difference as income on his taxes, but check with a lawyer.

You can't just choose to do a short sale. You have to prove that you are financially no longer able to make the payments and that you will be heading into foreclosure. Banks don't like to do them because if they just hang out and wait for the foreclosure they get more money that way. If you do a short sale you will have to either pay the difference or file bankruptcy to get out from under it or the bank can come after you.

B.:

I'm not a real estate agent - but I can tell you that you don't have a good enough reason to claim short-sale...short-sales are for people who are financially strapped and unable to pay their mortgage....just because the neighborhood and schools are going down hill is a piss poor excuse - sorry - but it is.

contact your mortgage lender and see what they have to say...contact a real estate lawyer to see what they have to say.....but really - I believe you have to prove financial inability to pay the mortgage before the bank will approve a short sale...

We are in the process of a short sale of our house. Unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation out there about short sales. We luckily got set up with a great realtor who has had a lot of experience in short sales, who then set us up with great lawyers who deal with short sales. A lot of people think short sales are because a person is broke. Our situation was we didnt like where we were and wanted to move. Because of the economy we have lost about 100K on our house and dont have 100K to bring to closing, therefore we have to short sale. You do have the option of renting your house. We were told this was not a good idea. If the banks see that you are making any money on your house you will never be able to short sale or foreclose without them coming after you, until the values of houses picks up tremendously. As far as what you have to pay if you short sale....that is all up to the banks. Some banks are harder to deal with than other. It depends on if you have one or two mortgages. I would call a short sale lawyer for a free consult to see what all your options are. We were told a bunch of different things, from they could make us pay it all back, some of it back with a 30 yr loan and no interest, to we could have to come up with some quick cash but at a much lesser amount. It is too bad we cant predict what they are going to say. If you havent been paying your mortgage that helps your case. They will ask for bank statements, the less money in there the better. It is a very long, stressful process. Hang in there!!!!

We tried but the bank wouldn't accept any offers. They can put it in the contract that you don't owe the difference before accepting an offer.

We are currently short selling our townhouse. We have outgrown it and will be able to rent something that we can afford, that will be large enough for our family. We bought the townhouse in 2007 when we graduated college (we signed closing papers the day before graduation) and our realators stretched the truth to get us in here, we weren't really sure about everything said until after we had signed, and it's no wonder that people are in trouble. Since then we have had two children and I have lost two different jobs. One lowest on the totum pole, the other the business closed.

We could probably afford to keep living here for a couple more months, but we decided to attempt to sell before being completely broke. It is a little easier to short sell now a days, but you can't just do it becuase you choose to. If you choose to sell your house for less than what your mortgage is worth, you will most likely need to pay back the difference. Try refinancing first!

We bought our house for 25K less than it was appraised for, now the appraised value is 100K less than it was in 2007. We sold for about 28K less than the apraised value and about 65K less than what we owe on the house. Ours has been approved by the bank and we will basically just walk away. We were current with our morgage until we found a seller, but then we decided that since this is going to destroy our credit for the next 2 years anyway we could save the money for rent on the next place. We close on 9.21, and our renting our home from the buyer until we find somewhere else to live.

If I were you I would talk to a lawyer, relator, and a short sale leasion, and then call your mortgage holders loss mitigation department and see what they all have to say.

Sure hope you find an answer. I understand your concern. We moved from South Garland last August. It was hard to know what to do since we could have paid off the house in three years. But we have two young children ages 4 and 6 and could not feel comfortable having them grow up there. We home school and I am a stay at home mom. Home is base for us and things were starting to look like a war zone close to home. We where blessed that hubby got a great job when the market was so yucky and decided to sell and move on. Sold it in six weeks for the price we where asking for. Sometimes it's wise to stay and sometimes it's time to cut your loses and move on. I feel for you. Mesquite has changed alot in the past few years and is almost nothing like it was before. Large beautiful homes were selling for near nothing last year when we were looking. Pray that God directs your path.
C.

We did a short sale, well are almost done with a short sale. And we did it as a choice, not as a need. It did scare us to make a decision that others may look down on......but in the end you HAVE to do what is right for your family. Period.

President Bush signed The Mortgage Forgiveness Act of 2007. Google it. It is a law that forgives the debt that comes with a short sale until 2012.

It is stressful, and we are down to the line. Short sale expected to be completely approved by Sept 7th, and there is a date to Auction our house sept 14th.....

Good luck. And don't let what others may think of you deter you from making a good decision for your family. I can assure you the the bank is not staying awake at night feeling bad bc the area you live in has gone to the pits, and your house value is less than you owe.

If you can still afford the house, they can make you pay the difference. We tried to short sell a few years ago, but the bank decided that paying 60% of our monthly income toward our mortgage was totally reasonable (!) (husband lost his job shortly after we closed escrow... ugggh). After doing some research, we decided that foreclosure was a better option for us. For starters, they couldn't come after us for the difference (which was around $300K - gotta love the CA real estate market!), and our credit was going to be totally screwed whether we did a short sale or a foreclosure. Foreclosure actually made more sense for us financially. (No way was I going to saddle myself with $300K of debt on a house I didn't own anymore, AND they wanted me to cash in my 401k as well... what?!)

My advice is to talk to a good realtor in your area. Go over the options with them, and ask their advice. A lot of this is going to depend upon your lender and what the market is like in your area - some banks and some real estate markets are better than others. Keep in mind that as much as anyone tries to browbeat you about this, it is not a moral decision. It is a financial decision. You signed a contract with the bank, which clearly defined the penalties for default. As long as you pay them, you can live in the house. When you stop paying them, they get the house back and you stop paying. It's as simple as that. You are not a bad person for exercising your rights under the contract. I'm sorry, but the people telling you that your desire not to live there anymore isn't a good enough reason, are not correct. Either way, expect that you will not be able to qualify for FHA financing for at least 3 years, and your credit will take a huge hit. As long as you keep paying on your other commitments (credit cards, car loans, whatever), your credit score will rebound pretty quickly. Defaulting on a secured loan isn't as bad credit-wise as defaulting on an unsecured loan.

Anyhow, good luck with your decision and I hope everything goes smoothly.

I have never heard of doing a short sale for this reason. Most people short sale because they can't afford the house anymore, and they have no other choice but to do one. You should look in to if you could even do one for this reason, and if you can think long and hard about this. You may be able to short sale your house, but your credit will still be ruined regardless of the reason for the sale. Renting is a lot of times your only option after a short sale.

We just closed on our short sale yesterday. Contact your lender about a HAFA program, it is an extensive program new thru the gov't but we were forgiven the difference of over $100k & were actually given a check of $3,000 for relocation purposes. Okay, it doesn't sound like much, but it is something. Just be patient with the process and the buyers, as they expect everything for nothing. Another thing to keep in mind, our mtg pymt was $2,400 and you have to make monthly pymts thoughout the HAFA program so they figured we could afford $2,140 (no clue where they pulled that # out of, although our liason from the mtge co could not tell us what to do, he just advised us to do what we could and at times, like the one when our well pump that cost $1,900 went and we had to replace it, he couldn't tell us not to pay the full amt, we called to pay the difference and although they refused he emailed us (off record) and told us that although they wouldn't accept it, we still tried so there was still record of us attempting to make a payment. So pay what amt you can, but make it a reasonable amt, but keep them in the loop. As I mentioned, it is an extensive process but this does not hit your credit as a foreclosure would and if your home does not sell w/in the 6 month period, your realtor simply requests an extension. Our house was on the market since mid Dec & the buyer had put in offer the beginning of June but backed out once (40 mins before the closing, but then went ahead w/things). The mtg co will have BPO done which is a more realistic appraisal done and w/us having had that done we were able to lower our price from $240K to $210 and we had 2 offers w/in a weekend. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact me @ ____@____.com for whatever reason my email doesn't work thru this site - best of luck to u!

I believe what you want is a short sale without recourse... meaning you can sell the house for what ever the bank will accept and they can not come after you for the difference. you may need to prove to the bank that the house is only worth what people are offering to pay for it, just because you can not make your payments (at this time) doesn't mean the house isn't worth it. try going to the Daveramsey.com website and see what he says about them he recommends them as needed. best of luck... sorry if I repeated any info I didn't read all of your responses.

I dont know much about it but a friend of mine had a horrible experience. She was way behind due to a divorce and just couldnt catch up. She knew foreclosure was close, so she opted to try to short sale. She hired a realtor that was suppose to be good at the short sales. She had 2 offers on the house and the bank wanted one more before they would make a decision. In the mist of things, the proper paperwork from the realtor the bank and whoever else, did not make to the desk of the mortgage company. Even thogh she had called them and told them what she was doing. Before that 3rd offer made it she recieved a foreclosure notice and because someone somewhere had dropped the ball she was foreclosed on.

So if you do this, please make sure your realtor truley knows what he/she is doing and I suggest staying in contact yourself with the nortage company on a daily basis.