If you have decided that you can no longer afford your home and you need to sell it, the first step to take is to hire an agent experienced in short sales. Selling real estate in Northville requires experience and marketing savvy; selling real estate that are short sales requires even more knowledge and experience.
Part of the complexity surrounding selling a home “short” means that any and all parties who have a legal interest in the home, i.e. mortgage companies, must all be negotiated with and received the approval of the short sale. When real estate in Northville is sold, part of that selling process is the transfer of title from one party to another, from the seller to buyer. The buyer must be able to receive title to the property free from any encumbrances. In a typical real estate transaction, the money being offered by a buyer is sufficient to pay off any first or second mortgages as well as profiting the seller with the remaining proceeds. In a short sale, the offer falls “short” of paying off these lien holders. As such, the those who have valid liens must agree to receiving less than what they are owed in order to release their lien (or interest) in the property. In actuality, selling short sale real estate is more about debt settlement than anything else.
When you start your search to find a real estate agent to help you, a good place to start is with friends or family or co-workers. There is probably more than one person that you know who has been forced to short sell their home and can refer you the name of the agent they used. You can also search the internet. Doing so, you will find several agents who specialize in short sales. You want to make sure the agent you hire meets three criteria: experience, certification and references.
Once you have put together a list of real estate agents to consider, ask them how long they have been handling short sale real estate in Northville. You want an agent who has been actively doing short sales for a minimum of one year. Find out if they have any short sale certifications or designations. Being certified does not automatically make an agent qualified, but it does show they took the time to learn some of the essentials of short sales negotiations. Finally, ask them for references. You want to be able to contact at least two or three past clients with whom the real estate agent has worked. Ask the previous client how long the process took and how communicative the agent was throughout the process. Did the agent get the home sold with no deficiency owed by the seller?
