The first thing that must happen is the documenting of a viable "hardship" demonstrating why you are unable to continue to make payments on your mortgage loans. Your certified agent can help you with distilling your circumstances down to a relatable reason. This is not an excuse, but a reason.

Your certified short sale real estate agent will complete a thorough market analysis of where the current value of your property stands, considering condition and deferred maintenance factors. To establish a reasonable list price. Depending on where you are in the foreclosure process, a more aggressive price should be recommended to get a contract quickly and stall any further, immediate foreclosure action by the bank/servicer. Most servicers will suspend foreclosure with a ratified/executed contract in play. However, some will not and you, your agent and buyer will have to be nimble enough to out-run the train. It can be highly stressful.

We have had numerous cases where we were able to get the foreclosure sale postponed on the morning of the trustee/sheriff's sale. Always a nail-biter.

Once an acceptable contract is obtained, your certified agent will prepare a comprehensive short sale proposal to be submitted to the servicer/bank for processing. This proposal must include bothh the executed contract along with comprehensive financial documents to back up the proposal.

The certified agent should be in contact with the servicer's loss mitigation center at least weekly. If the servicer is missing documents or needs additional backup, they won't ask. Your certified agent must stay on top of the servicer to make sure the process progresses to approval.

The servicer/bank will commission either a Broker Price Opinion (valuation) (BPO) or a formal Fee Appraisal. Which type is usually determined by the estimated market value of the property. Higher value assets will typically have a fee appraisal. These costs are paid by the servicer, not the homeowner.

If the contract sale price and the bank's valuation are in range of each other, the bank negotiator will move forward with the approval process. Since the bank is not the owner of the loan, they will have a "delegation of authority" to negotiate the final price. If the price is outside the delegation of authority, the bank must obtain approval from the investor (owner of the loan).

Call Clay for more information at (561) 600-5117. With hundreds of certified successful short sale transactions, we are best able to help you.