One of the options for homeowners in peril of losing their home to foreclosure is to try a short sale. Short Sale is when the lender allows an owner to market a property to be sold for less than the amount owed on a mortgage and takes a loss.

Unfortunately, financial institutions imply that this is an ordinary type of transaction; one which they can help facilitate in several ways. The truth is that financial institutions are not equipped to handle the enormous volume of sales from debt-strapped homeowners all attempting to do a short sale and believe me; this is truly a feat. Usually, most individuals who choose to short sale their property fail the process and lose their home to foreclosure.

Data pulled from the Southeast Florida Multiple listing service (MLS) indicates that only 20% of the short sales on the market actually sell (not as effective as most people think.)

Recognizing that short sales have fallen short of their desired result banks are stepping up their efforts to make short sales happen quickly and efficiently.   Working with many banks on the REO and Foreclosure side of the business I get to meet with such banks as Wells Fargo, HSBC, Country Wide now Bank of America, just to name a few and some like Bank of America have turned to third party REO and Default Servicing Industry vendors like REOTrans, soon to be Equator, to handle the short sale process for their customers. This is good news because if the banking industry can capitalize on technology to process this type of transaction the better the process will become.

So, if you’re considering a Short Sale, first contact your servicer or lender for their Short Sales and bank requirements. After you get the bank’s approval then get yourself a really good Realtor, an experienced Realtor, one that won’t drop the ball and one experienced in dealing with these new systems and you will probably have more success than most.

Now more then ever, with low inventory of Foreclosed homes, buyers are contacting us to help them buy a short sale property and the requests are not just in the Miami market but in communities like South Miami, Coral Gables, Pinecrest and many other great communities

For a list of Short Sale properties visit http://www.rosrealty.com/mls-property-search.asp and select the Short sale criteria in the search panel.

By Eddie Pineiro, Realtor | Broker Associate – eddie@rosrealty.com