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Monday, January 5, 2009

A truly savvy investor can take advantage of these short sales

By Rem

Many hear about the phrase "real estate short sale" and do not fully grasp what it means. If you read the newspapers, or turn on the TV and the odds are high that you will come across stories about declining real estate market conditions and the increasing willingness of banks and other financial institutions to consider real estate short sales as an alternative to foreclosure.

In all parts of the country, real estate prices are down and the time it takes to sell properties has risen dramatically. It is no exaggeration to say that some regions are experiencing a virtual market meltdown (the Detroit market is one good example). A real estate market that is not doing so well is the giving the need for short sale real estate opportunities to grow.

A real estate short sale happens when a bank lets a property be sold for less than the amount owed on it. Since a short sale requires an significant financial situation for a bank, many institutions require two conditions before they will agree to a short sale. The first condition is that market values must be in a state that the property's sale price cannot cover the outstanding balance on the mortgage. An inability to make additional payments on the property is the second requirement.

Let's look at an example property that was bought five years ago for the rate of 217,000 dollars with an adjustable rate mortgage. Let's also expect that two years after purchasing the property, the owners took an additional mortgage of 10,000 dollars which brings their debt to 227,000 dollars. Also, we have to remember that in five years, the amount of time that the mortgages have been paid off is negligible. We'll also imagine that the property value has decreased to 215,000 dollars while the mortgage interest rate has increased from seven to eleven percent. Add in the additional problem of one of the owners having lost their job, and you end up with a very likely real estate short sale scenario.

For a bank, a foreclosure can mean a lot of time and money spent that a short sale would not. The reason for this is that the banks believe it is better to get the property off their books and accept a smaller amount of money they are guaranteed to get than to accept an unknown amount in the future. Those are the basics of a real estate short sale, though numerous complications can arise from having multiple owners and lenders not agreeing to a short sale terms.

A real estate short sale is an unpleasant experience for an owner, but it is not the worst thing in the world. The methods may not be flawless, but it will beat having a foreclosure on the credit report. On the positive side, it can represent a great buying opportunity for the smart real estate investor.

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