Short Sale

Short sale is a process that allows you to resolve your mortgage loan debt and avoid foreclosure by partnering with your lender to offer your home for sale at a lower price than what you owe on the mortgage. This is an option of last resort, and this type of sale can take some time to complete, but it is preferable to having the stigma of a foreclosure on your credit report.

As with bankruptcy, foreclosure can have a negative impact on your credit score that lasts for a long time. Car loans, credit cards, job and apartment applications and certain types of student loans are often denied to applicants with a foreclosure on their credit record. For this reason, if a loan modification is not an option to resolve your mortgage debt, a short sale is the next best choice.

While many lenders and loan servicers do approve this option for borrowers who are in default, it can be very difficult to qualify and to move the process along. Even after the borrower is approved and the short sale goes through, the financial obligation may not be over – the mortgage lender can pursue a deficiency judgment in court, obligating the borrower to repay the difference between the final sale price and the original mortgage amount.

If you are a homeowner considering a short sale, or dealing with setbacks during the short sale process, it pays to be vigilant and to know all of your options under the law. You may need legal representation if:

• Your are in default on your mortgage but your lender or loan servicer has not informed you that short sale is an option to avoid foreclosure, or is not providing adequate information about your options
• Your have a short sale application in process, but you lender or loan servicer has informed you it is on hold indefinitely due to an application backlog, without giving a timeline for when it will be reviewed
• Your lender or loan servicer has lost part or all of your short sale application, refuses to conform that you submitted all documentation required, or has informed you that your application will be delayed or denied due to missing documentation that you have already submitted
• Your short sale application has been transferred to a new loan servicer several months into the process, and the new servicer will not honor the original agreement, or requires reapplication and resubmission of all documents
• You have been approved for short sale, but the terms outlined in the short sale agreement are confusing or unclear
• Your home is finally listed as a short sale and you have buyers expressing interest, but the lender or loan servicer has failed to communicate with the buyers’ agent or move forward with the process of accepting a bid
• Your lender or loan servicer has failed to approved any qualified buyer or bid for your short sale for six months or longer, and the prospective buyers are threatening to move on
• Your short sale is complete, but the lender is pursuing a deficiency judgment against you

These are just a few of the complications that can arise during a short sale, and the process can be overwhelming for homeowners who just want to satisfy their debt add move on.

Our legal team will fight for your right to sell your home rather than face foreclosure, and make the process of applying for a short sale as simple as stress-free as possible. Our real estate experts will also work to ensure that the sales process is both fair and final, and that no further legal action is taken against you.

When you hire the J. Gannon Helstowski Law Firm for short sale help:

An attorney and paralegal will be assigned to your case. Work will begin immediately and we will keep you informed of our progress. We do not waste time with form letters hoping for a response. We will contact your mortgage lender or loan servicer directly, provide them with all documentation needed to assess your eligibility for a short sale, and keep pushing to get your application for approved in a timely manner.

Your lender or loan servicer will no longer contact you. Once you hire an attorney, the law states that creditors and their debt collectors must speak and deal only with your attorney. This means that letters and phone calls threatening foreclosure over your past-due balance will stop, and you will no longer have the burden of calling and writing your mortgage lender or loan servicer in an attempt to get help.

If you have a pending foreclosure notice, we will quickly address it. If your lender or loan servicer has already taken steps to foreclose on your home, we will immediately begin working to stop that process. We will negotiate a more favorable resolution on your behalf, and resolve the situation as soon as possible.

We will help you create an effective hardship letter. Our legal team will work with you to create a hardship letter that documents the reasons why you should be eligible for a short sale. We will detail the personal circumstances that have led to your loan default – whether due to job loss, divorce, medical issues, or other events out of the ordinary – and explain how they have impacted your ability to pay the full amount due.

We will negotiate the terms of your short sale and monitor its progress. Once you qualify for a short sale, we will work with your lender to expedite all further approvals needed to get the home on the market, and to make sure the sale can be completed in a timely manner once you find a buyer.

Your rights will be protected. If we discover that your lender or loan servicer has taken actions against you that violate federal statutes or consumer protection laws, we will use every legal means required to address the situation. We can even file a lawsuit on your behalf if necessary.