Nevada market conditions have left many homeowners underwater and facing difficulties making their mortgage payments. Many homeowners don’t know where to turn. Unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation out there. Many homeowners listen to whoever is speaking the loudest to them – a family member, a co-worker or the billboard on the side of the freeway. The problem is even when a resource seems credible they may not be giving homeowners all their options.
Not a day goes by when I hear something about short sales from a client, on the news, on the radio, from my fellow REALTORS, and out in the general public that frustrates me. I have heard people say “my attorney says I should just walk away” and read billboards that say “just dump it.” It is statements like these that have fueled the foreclosure crisis in Nevada.
Short sales remain one of the best options for homeowners who need to sell their home but no longer have equity. So do you need to engage the services of an attorney to negotiate your short sale for you? Do you need to pay $3000+ upfront fees and monthly retainers to do a short sale? The answer is no. There are many qualified REALTORS out there who specialize in short sales and are negotiating them on behalf of our seller clients every day with no upfront fees or monthly retainers. In fact, in most short sales the seller PAYS NOTHING out of pocket. Where is the attorney’s incentive to get your short sale done as quickly as possible if they are collecting a monthly retainer? A REALTOR’S incentive is to get the short sale approved as quickly as possible and get the sale closed because that’s when we get paid.
The attorney may tell you that they are more successful negotiating deficiency waiver (keeping the bank from coming after you) than REALTORS are. This is simply not true. Over the past several years I have been able to negotiate deficiency waiver for 100% of my clients who completed a short sale. The lien holders in most cases understand that if deficiency waiver cannot be obtained many sellers would choose foreclosure as the best option. The lien holders know that they stand to lose substantially more money in a foreclosure if they cannot come to agreement on a short sale. Let’s not forget that with Nevada AB284, the new law that went into effect in October 2011, many lien holders don’t have the correct documentation or personal knowledge of assignments which is currently preventing many from filing a Notice of Default in Nevada and subsequently foreclosing.
So I want to set the record straight. Homeowners if you are facing difficulties with your mortgage and you have determined a short sale is the best option for you call a REALTOR. Don’t compound your financial woes by paying upfront fees and monthly retainers to an attorney. Let’s let the REALTORS do what they do best which is selling real estate and let the attorneys focus on the law.
