How A Real Estate Attorney Can Help You With A Short Sale

Posted on: 11 January 2016

When it comes to making a short sale on a piece of property, one of the best things you can do for yourself is hire the services of a real estate attorney. Throughout the course of this article, you will learn a little bit about the practice of short sales and how exactly hiring the services of a real estate attorney can directly benefit you and help you net a bit of profit you perhaps were not expecting.

What Is A Short Sale?

A short sale is essentially when the individual or individuals selling a house agree to sell the home for less than they paid on the mortgage, with the agreement that the new homeowner will pay off the "short" of the mortgage.

Many banks have divergent rules when it comes to what constitutes a short sale and when you will be able to commit to a short sale rather than a foreclosure. In almost every case where you decide on putting your home up for a short sale, you will need the approval and direct involvement of the bank.

As a short sale is a serious matter and requires a lot of legal ins-and-outs (and a considerable amount of paperwork), it is highly recommended that you hire the services of a real estate attorney in order to advocate for you in this matter.

A Few Things To Note About A Short Sale

There are a few things that you should take into consideration before committing to a short sale and hiring a real estate attorney. Although these issues are largely minimal, they should still be discussed as a brief note.

First and foremost, you must take full responsibility for the sale of your home. This means that, while you can find help in selling or moving the home (which a real estate attorney can help you with), the job will be quite a bit more time consuming than simply letting your home fall into foreclosure or attempting to sell the home through a real estate agency.

If you do find a buyer quickly, you will most likely have to move out of the home in a very short span of time, which many sellers find undesirable. Finally, all proceeds from the short sale will go directly to the lender and not into your pocketbook.

The Pros Of Hiring A Real Estate Attorney

When it comes to the pros of how a real estate attorney can help you with a short sale of a house, they are almost innumerable.

A real estate attorney can help you go about realizing and fulfilling the promise of a short sale. By hiring the services of such an attorney, they will be able to help you convince the lender to let you short sell, ensure that after the short sale is complete, your loan will be considered paid in full, you will avoid foreclosure, and they will minimize any attempt that is made to put a dent in your credit by the bank.

They can usually ensure that you will be able to buy a home much more quickly after the completion of a short sale than you otherwise would be able to (it should also be noted that you will be able to buy a home much more quickly after the completion of a short sale than you would had the home become foreclosed).

When it comes to selling your home after you've taken out a mortgage on it, a short sale is often times a very good idea. However, it always pays to have the help of an attorney, such as Jack W Hanemann, P.S., to advocate for you in such matters.

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