As a homeowner advocate, I have experienced lenders reluctant to put clients under the HAFA short sale program despite their being eligible, most likely because they do not want to pay the $10,000 HAFA relocation fee to the current occupant of the home.  Other cases where I have opened escalations with the HAMP Solution Center include when the lenders are not following the guidelines, not meeting timelines, or not wanting to postpone or remove a foreclosure sale despite the homeowner being under review or in the process of a HAFA short sale.

 

For those homeowners who are very close to a foreclosure sale, meaning that a notice of default has been filed and a trustee sale date is set, if I am able to get the property listed for a short sale and receive an offer, banks are typically willing to postpone the trustee sale date if the offer reaches the bank within their required time frame and they feel the offer is reasonable or within the range of fair market value.  Of course there are no guarantees and every situation is unique but, in my experience, banks typically prefer to postpone if they see that progress is being made towards the sale of the property as an alternative to foreclosure.  Typically a bank or lender will recover 10 to 15 percent more with a short sale as opposed to foreclosing on the property which is costly and may take a long time with the condition likely being worse.

When a short sale closes, on the credit report the account typically shows "Paid in Full for less than the full balance" as opposed to a foreclosure or repossession by the bank. The fact that you have found my website shows that you are seeking to get useful information and studies show that the most homeowners first contact a real estate professional like myself to assist them with their property.

 

Some of the areas where I have successfully closed short sales in the San Fernando Valley, Simi Valley and Santa Clarita Valley include Canyon Country, Lake Balboa, Encino, Pacoima, Porter Ranch, Simi Valley, Van Nuys, West Hills, Sherman Oaks and Sylmar.