Monday, September 12, 2011

How A Short Sale Offer Should Be Written

How A Short Sale Offer Should Be Written
Why A Short Sale Buyer Must Commit To Buying A Short Sale Property


I specialize in Nashville area short sales. With short sale listings (and any listing) there is significantly more to the offer than just the purchase price. I always recommend that my Nashville Tennessee short sale clients accept the most qualified offer, which is not necessarily the highest offer. Many times a potentially great offer will be rejected because it contains terms in the contract that will make a successful short sale closing highly unlikely. For example, one contract term that is an absolute deal killer on a short sale is the buyer requiring the right to back out at any time, or that the contract is non-binding until written short sale approval is obtained. Sorry buyers. One-sided "option type contracts" that allow the buyer to bail out at any time are very risky to short sale sellers who may have no other chance to re-sell the property due to a pending foreclosure sale, or a foreclosure sale that is likely to be scheduled soon. Another major (and common) short sale offer problem is with buyers who don't want to do their property inspection until after the bank or mortgage company approves the short sale. That is a recipe for failure. From the seller's standpoint, spending 30-120 days (on average) negotiating a short sale only to find out that the buyer doesn't want the home, or doesn't want the home at the contract price due to problems found with the home, as a result of the inspection, is an exercise in futility. Even if the buyers still want the property with a repair credit (assuming their lender will even allow it), or the buyer wants the home at a lower price, there is a good chance that the revised offer will be rejected by the short sale lender, particularly if there is not enough time to complete a property re-valuation, or to convince the short sale lender that the property condition warrants a lower price or net. We could have sent a list of the property problems to the short sale bank and the BPO agent (or short sale appraiser). Those problems could have factored into the original price negotiations with the short sale bank. Waiting until after the offer is approved by the short sale lender and then battling the short sale lender on the price could cause the seller to run out of time and be foreclosed. From the buyer's standpoint, why would you want to waste your time waiting for short sale approval on a home that you potentially don't even want at the offer price, or maybe don't want at all? To save $350.00+/- on a home inspection? That seems to be very shortsighted to me. To avoid problems like this I have very detailed short sale offer instructions that cooperating buyer agents must follow when writing up their offer on my Nashville short sale listings. To make these offer instructions more enforceable, in my listing documents with the seller I am granted the authority to reject any and all offers that do not comply with these offer instructions. A buyer thinking about purchasing a short sale listing absolutely must commit to the property in its AS IS condition. If a buyer is not willing to make that commitment they need to move on and buy another property. I am not trying to be rude, but a short sale offer must be written in a way that clearly indicates that the buyer is committed to closing on the purchase of the short sale property.

Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Nolensville, Spring Hill, Thompson’s Station, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, LaVergne (La Vergne), Antioch, Columbia, Mt. Juliet (Mount Juliet), Springfield, Gallatin, Hermitage, Hendersonville and Middle Tennessee Short Sales. Free* Short Sale and Foreclosure Help and Assistance for Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Nolensville, Spring Hill, Thompson's Station, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, LaVergne, Antioch, Columbia, Mt. Juliet, Springfield, Gallatin, Hermitage, Hendersonville and Middle Tennessee Financially Distressed Homeowners and Property Owners. Stop the Bank from Foreclosing with a Quick Cash Offer or Short Sale. If you are a Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Nolensville, Spring Hill, Thompson's Station, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, LaVergne, Antioch, Columbia, Mt. Juliet, Springfield, Gallatin, Hermitage, Hendersonville and Middle Tennessee homeowner, property owner, condo owner, real estate investor, home builder or real estate developer who cannot pay your mortgage payments (due to losing your job, having your income reduced, illness, health problems, adverse business conditions, slow sales, loss of investment property tenants, vacancy issues, lack of funds to complete the project, feuding business partners, etc.), know that you will not be able to pay your mortgage, have defaulted on your mortgage, are already in foreclosure, or owe more than your home is worth, please contact Jim to discuss a short sale (when the real estate sale proceeds are not sufficient to pay off the mortgages and liens on the property). Jim helps sellers (homeowners, property owners, condo owners, owners of high end homes and properties (estate homes, luxury homes and executive homes), real estate investors, home builders and real estate developers) of distressed real estate, short sales, pre-foreclosures, foreclosures, investment properties, failed new construction projects and struggling commercial real estate developments located in any Middle TN County (Rutherford, Williamson, Davidson, Maury, Sumner, Wilson and Robertson). If you need to short sell your house or property, or you need a quick sale to stop a foreclosure sale, you can Nashville Short Sales. Brentwood Short Sales. Franklin Short Sales. Nolensville Short Sales. Smyrna Short Sales. LaVergne Short Sales. Antioch Short Sales. Spring Hill Short Sales. Thompson’s Station Short Sales. Murfreesboro Short Sales. Smyrna Short Sales. LaVergne (La Vergne) Short Sales. Antioch Short Sales. Columbia Short Sales. Mt. Juliet (Mount Juliet) Short Sales. Springfield Short Sales. Gallatin Short Sales. Hermitage Short Sales. Hendersonville Short Sales. Middle Tennessee Short Sales. Free* Short Sale Help and Foreclosure Help and Assistance for Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Nolensville, Spring Hill, Thompson's Station, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, LaVergne, Antioch, Columbia, Mt. Juliet, Springfield, Gallatin, Hermitage, Hendersonville and Middle Tennessee Financially Distressed Homeowners and Property Owners. Stop the Bank from Foreclosing with a Quick Cash Offer or Short Sale. (*Free: In a real estate short sale, the bank or mortgage company usually approves and pays all of Jim's commissions and fees.)