Jon Coats Law Blog

Short sales in Pinellas County Florida currently make up approximately 50% of residential real estate transactions.  As short sale purchase can be a opportunity for a buyer to acquire property at its true fair market value, i.e., what it is really worth in today’s market, not what it was worth back in 2004, 2005 and 2006 when our local real estate prices simply went through the roof.   To give you some examples of what I am talking about, the following are just a small sampling of some recent short sales approved and/or closed in the last couple of weeks which were negotiated by my office:

1)  Client owed lender $1,144,000 -  Approved for short sale at $512,000

2)  Client owed lender $799,000 -  Approved for short sale at $535,000

3)  Client owed lender $1,900,00 -  Approved for short sale at $1,295,000

4)  Client owed lender $415,00 -  Approved for short sale at $303,000

Of the four deals referenced above, three of them closed within the last two weeks, and one will be closing next week.  In sum, short sales do get done and you can see that the buyers are getting great deals.  Not only that, my clients who were selling the properties listed above were forgiven of more than $1.5 million in mortgage obligations.   What made these deals possible was not only the negotiations on behalf of my clients, i.e., the sellers of the properties, but also the realtors involved.   Short sales are a long and drawn out process that can easily take 4 to 6 months before an approval from the short sale lender or lenders is obtained.   If you are buyer looking at a short sale, it is extremely important to find a realtor who actually handles short sales so they can properly advise you of the time involved.

The wait is worth the reward, but every once in a while I run into a deal where the buyer has a realtor who has never handled a short sale.  This creates real issues because the buyer is brought into the process without having been fully advised of the process and how long it may take.  The buyer ends up getting frustrated after a month; really frustrated after 2 or 3 months, and outright crazy after 4 or 5 months with no approval of their offer.  Of course, the fact that their realtor who has never handled a short sale can’t explain the situation to the buyer is of no help at all, and often results in the buyer getting fed up and walking away.  In many cases, the buyer walks just before an approval from the lender, which then allows my clients’ realtors (who know what they are doing) to find a new buyer at the approved price, who then gets the benefit of a fast closing because we just spent the last 4 or 5 months negotiating the deal.

In sum, if you are buyer looking for a short sale, please interview your realtor and ask how many short sales they have handled, it makes a huge difference and will make the process much more tolerable for you as a buyer.

Questions about hiring a lawyer to represent you in your short sale?

Give me a call at 727-456-4462 or Contact Us via the web