We've Been Negotiating and Processing Short Sales for Agents Since 2007!

We developed our systems and techniques through years of helping close short sales for other Realtors. Be careful you're not trusting your short sales to someone that copied what we do. They can't use our experience to save your deal!

Our Fee - The buyer agrees to pay us a fee of 1.5% of the sale price as a service fee, but only if we can get the seller's lender to approve paying all the transfer tax (2%) and the title insurance policies. In other words, we only get paid on what we can save a buyer that was planning to pay 1% tansfer tax and the title work.  Of course, the AOS needs to state that the seller is paying these fees, and the seller's lender needs to approve it, but it's up to us to get this done....or we don't get paid. The final HUD1 would include our service fee as a buyers cost, but not have any transfer tax or title policy fees as buyer costs.

Be wary of short sale companies with documents stating they'll keep a buyers deposit, or charge fees outside of settlement. When your short sale company performs illegal or unethical behavior, it's your license at risk!

Use Our Web Site - This site will allow you and your client (the homeowner) to download all the required documents in the short sale process. This will not only save you time by immediately getting the information, but it will also save your client time and hassle by having lender specific short sale packages right at your finger tips!  Another huge feature for your client is the fact that they can view the status of their short sale in real-time while you focus your efforts on getting your property sold!

Automatic Updates - Both you and your seller will receive automated email notifications from our property tracking feature. Every time our negotiator makes a note on the file (usually at least once per week), an email is sent to all parties from no-reply@proptrackr.com displaying these notes. This keeps everyone up to date on the progress of the file from start to close.

When you get a short sale listing, log-in to your account, register the listing & seller contact info, and upload the seller's mortgage statement. We'll immediately send the seller an introduction with pertinent details about short sales, writing a hardship letter, and what documents their lender will require. They can even upload their info here - If you don't already have an account, click here to create your account now! It's absolutely free.

Typical Short Sale Requirements (to be collected from the borrower/seller)

  • Hardship letter – which states what happened to cause the seller to fall behind, when it happened, and what you’re doing to fix the situation

  • Financial worksheet – a breakdown of all the seller's income and expenses. Most lenders require this to be their specific financial form.

  • The last 2 months of pay stubs or a recent profit and loss statement if self-employed.  If they can’t provide either of those then they’ll need a signed and dated explanation of why.

  • The last two months of bank statements (every page)

  • The last two years of federal tax returns (1040's, schedules, and W-2s or 1099s)

  • A mortgage statement, agreement of sale, buyers pre-approval, and the listing agreement.

Once we have these documents we will be able to start the short sale.  Once the process has been started you’ll receive automated feedback emails from us at least weekly.

Once you have an offer, we recommend the property be changed to pending status, as it normally would. Don't worry, our Realtor management will help pre-screen the buyer so they are well qualified and well prepared. If you feel you should keep the offer listed and take back up offers, that's fine. We just haven't seen it to be very effective, and we haven't had many buyers walk.

You May Want to Find These Things Out from a Potential Buyer:

  • How quickly can they close?  Lenders do not typically provide more than 30 days after written approval to close. Are they flexible as to when they can settle?

  • What amount of closing cost help do they need?  Remember that in a short sale, the seller's lender approves the contract and the closing costs they'll approve are determined by what type of loan the seller has...So try to find that out too.

  • Are they willing to turn on utilities if the property's vacant? Or even pay something toward utility fees like sewer, trash, or HOA fees that the seller can't pay and their lender won't pay.

In addition to working with the homeowner, you may also need to meet the BPO agent or appraiser at the property when the lender(s) conducts their BPO/Appraisal.  This part of the process is extremely important!  This value has to come in as close to your offer as possible in order for the lender to accept a short sale.  Make sure to have a copy of the current offer, as well as some of the closest comps you can get. If you have a home inspection report or repair estimates, provide them too. The lender does not want an unrealistically high value. They'd rather do the short sale because it will net them more. A figure that's too high will usually assure the property will be foreclosed on. They also don't want a figure that's too low because that will cost them money. You as a Realtor must make sure you aren't trying to influence that agent to come in with a low value so the bank sells the property for less than it's worth. That could get you in a lot of trouble.

Create your free account today to start submitting your properties!