Short Sale Specialist
ARE YOU BEHIND ON YOUR MORTGAGE?
TIME IS CRITICAL!
Contact Kim Kaplan Today!
The Consultation is Free!
Phone: 561-350-7004
Kim@KimKaplan.com
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Short Sale Specialist Realtor
If you are on this page, you are in trouble because you can no longer afford to keep your home, perhaps due to
one or all of the following reasons:
1. You are suffering some sort of financial hardship:
(a) You lost your job.
(b) Your job hours have been cut, resulting in less income.
(c) You are going through or have gone through a divorce.
(d) You are being relocated.
(e) There is a serious illness in the family.
(f) You are faced with a huge increase in medical expenses.
(g) Your property is in disrepair but you cannot afford the cost of repairs.
(h) You have a rental property, but your tenant has moved out or simply abandoned the property.
2. You think you cannot sell your home because you owe too much money to the bank.
3. You have stopped making your mortgage payments.
4. Someone (a process server) knocked on your door and served a summons (“Lis Pendens”) — a notice of intent to
foreclose on your property. (Just so you know, this notice typically gives you 20 days to respond. If you have not yet
received a Lis Pendens but you have stopped making payments, you soon will be receiving one. In any event, it is
not too late to do a short sale.)
5. You are facing a default on your loan.
6. You have received a foreclosure sale date.
7. You realize that if you continue to make your mortgage or HOA payments, any savings you have will be gone very
soon.
8. Business failure.
9. Death of spouse or family member.
10. Military service.
11. Payment increase or mortgage adjustment.
12. Insurance or tax increase.
13. Too much debt.
14. Incarceration.
STOP EVERYTHING YOU ARE DOING! THERE IS A WAY OUT!
Please call me immediately so we can discuss how I may assist you
with a short sale of your property!
I know you are scared about the future — where you will live, how you will deal with not having paid your mortgage, or
maybe you’re considering not paying your mortgage. Please know I can help you immediately.
There is absolutely no charge to you to do a short sale. My commission is paid by your bank.
You are in enough financial trouble now. I am available to talk to you, e-mail you or text you whenever you start to
stress. As soon as you sign a listing agreement with me, I take over all of your headaches.
I have a fabulous team, but I am the one who is available for you all day — and night, if necessary — to answer your
questions or just to listen.
Once you sign the listing agreement, you can tell the bank that you have listed your property with a Realtor, and you can
give them my name and number and have them call me.
I know you have many questions to ask, but the five most critical ones are these:
1. Will I owe the bank any money after the short sale is completed? Read more >>>
2. Will I owe the IRS taxes on the money the bank writes off? Read more >>>
3. Will a short sale ruin my credit? Read more >>>
4. Who pays the Realtor's commission to sell my home? Read more >>>
5. How long will it take to do a short sale? Read more >>>
A SHORT SALE occurs when a lender allows a home-owner to pay off a mortgage for less than what is owed on the
property. The lender agrees to accept a lower payoff amount on the property mostly because the foreclosure process
can be very costly and time consuming. Remember, banks ultimately want to do a short sale; they do not want to be in
the real estate business. They do not want to own your house. They would prefer to have an experienced Realtor
negotiate a short sale of your property.
Even if you are facing a foreclosure sale date, I can assist you.
But you must call me IMMEDIATELY so we can discuss your particular situation.
You are in the best position to get a short sale approved if you are living in the property and it is your primary residence.
By staying in the house, you are maintaining and protecting the bank's assets. Please be advised that you, the seller, will
not receive any money once you close on the short sale of your property. The reason is that the bank is losing
thousands of dollars — essentially writing off the loss — so you are not allowed to make money on the sale.
There is one exception, though. HAFA, (Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives) the federal government's new
program to help home-owners avoid foreclosure, actually pays a homeowner $3,000 at the close of a successful short
sale to assist with relocation expenses. (Click HERE for an explanation of the HAFA program.)
The other key HAFA provision is that the bank will not come after you for any of the money it is writing off. This is the
biggest concern my sellers have when considering a short sale.
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Q: WILL I OWE THE BANK ANY MONEY AFTER THE SHORT SALE IS COMPLETED?
A: Whether the seller would still owe money to the bank in a short-sale proceeding (also known as a “deficiency
judgement”) is the most-asked question I get about short sales. The answer is by no means a simple “yes” or “no.”
The best position to be in as the seller in a short sale — and it usually would result in no contribution from you — is if the
home is your primary residence and you are still living in it. Even so, there’s no guarantee that you won’t be asked to
contribute.
Why? A couple of reasons:
Your records may show that you have enough money in your bank accounts to "afford" to contribute something to
offset the bank's loss.
For example: You are upside down on your home, you have a valid hardship and the bank is willing to take a loss of
$100,000 or more. The bank agrees not to pursue you for this loss, but would like you to contribute $5,000 to $10,000
at closing. Your first reaction might be, "Forget it, I can't afford that! Let them foreclose! I know lots of people who didn't
pay anything!" That's one option and, ultimately, it’s your choice. But remember, the point of a short sale is to have you
regain control of your situation. Remember, too, that there is a bigger picture: If you do let your home go into
foreclosure, the bank can file a judgement against you for the full amount of the loss plus attorney's fees, repairs,
marketing, real estate commissions, property taxes, HOA delinquencies, and other charges.
When a bank asks for a contribution, it usually will give you two options: Either pay a lump sum at closing, or sign a
promissory note for small payments over a set period of time — usually for five years, at zero percent interest.
The other reason you might be asked to contribute has to do with whether your loan had mortgage insurance on it.
My goal, when negotiating with lenders, is to have no contribution from my clients; I am successful almost 100 percent
of the time. But if you're asked to sign a promissory note, then think of it this way: You are turning a secured debt of
$100,000+ into an unsecured debt of $5,000 to $10,000, with a payment of between $100 and $200 a month for five
years. The bottom line is, you’ll be free to move on with your life without a huge liability following you, and you won’t
have a foreclosure on your record.
These are definitive advantages to agreeing to contribute. But let me reiterate: These are the exceptions, not the rules,
and each short sale is different.
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Q: WILL I OWE THE IRS TAXES ON THE MONEY THE BANK WRITES OFF?
A: First, you will always receive a 1099 from the bank for the amount of money it has written off. This is not something
that anyone can "negotiate" out of. So, if the bank forgave $100,000, you'll get a 1099 tax statement for $100,000.
In theory, you will owe the IRS taxes on that amount. However, the Mortgage Forgiveness Act of 2007 waives the tax
due if the home was your primary residence.
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Q: WILL A SHORT SALE RUIN MY CREDIT?
A short sale will not appear on your credit report. Why? There's no such reporting as a "short sale."
The events that are causing you to sell short, however, will affect your credit score. The longer you miss payments
without doing something to get rid of the debt, for example, the more damage you will do to your credit score. Time is of
the essence when deciding to do a short sale.
Your lender(s) also can report how the loan was released or satisfied. Depending on the lender, the terms might be
negotiable.
If you go into a trial loan modification, the first thing the lender will say is that you will continue to be reported as
delinquent until the modification is finalized. Wow, that's not a good incentive to try and modify your loan, is it?
If you have a security clearance for a government job, or are in the military, or work for a casino and have a security
clearance, having a foreclosure on your credit report can cost you your job. It also can affect your ability to get a new job
or insurance. This is a major reason to do everything possible to avoid foreclosure.
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Q: WHO PAYS THE REALTOR'S COMMISSION TO SELL MY HOME?
I can speak only for my company, West Real Estate. When you qualify and we list your home as a short sale, you pay
absolutely nothing. The commission is paid by the bank.
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Q: HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO DO A SHORT SALE?
The time it takes to do a short sale varies from deal to deal. My experience has been as few as three weeks to as long
as six months.
There are many variables:
The number of loans involved.
How much negotiating is necessary to satisfy both the seller and the buyer.
Once approval is received, the length of time the buyer would need to close.
If the buyer is paying cash.
If the buyer needs to get a mortgage, and if so, what type.
The buyer gets tired of waiting for approval from the seller’s bank and walks away from the property.
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