Winston Salem, North Carolina – 2009

Home values are dropping quickly in Winston Salem and homeowners are struggling to find the right way to sell their over financed home fast to stop foreclosure.  The first person a homeowners thinks to contact is a real estate agent.  Real estate agents are known for being the trusted consultant when considering to sell a house.  Before 2008 real estate agents were your go to people to sell a house fast because the market was very fertile.  In recent years selling through a real estate agent just doesn’t cut it.

Real estate agents try the same tired methods that are known to work in the previous years but as of recent the methods are not working as they were before.  Real estate agents bought the same courses that have been packaged and re-packaged for years now and they are very updated.  The way a chicken was raised in the 1800’s is different than a chicken is raised now.  Realtors are up to their eyeballs with listings and they are only selling about 7-10% of their inventory.  Those numbers suggest that it can take at least 12 months to sell every house on the market.  That’s not going to happen since new homes are being added every day.

Now that is out the way, homeowners that once had equity are noticing that they don’t have the equity they need to sell fast especially if they are facing foreclosure.  In North Carolina the foreclosure timeline is 2-3 months and selling the traditional way can take 6 months or better.  So the traditional way is not going to work, that is why lenders are more likely to work with a homeowners now than they have ever before.

Lenders are doing what it takes to help homeowners stop the foreclosure process because a full foreclosure can cost them thousands of dollars in closing cost, real estate agent fees, attorney fees and the list goes on.  A foreclosure can cost $30,000 easily in just fees alone that is why banks are looking for new ways to avoid foreclosure at all cost.

One method in particular that has been around for years is called the short sale methods.  Lenders were doing short sales in the early 90’s but the foreclosure crisis has brought the term out to mainstream.  A short sale is when a mortgage lender agrees to reduce the principle balance of a mortgage to a price that will make the homeowners house more marketable on the ppen market.  Short sales get lenders their money back faster than having to wait 9-12 months to recoup their money to loan again.  Short sales also saves them fees and a host of other cost.

Homeowners also benefit from short sales since they can walk away from their home with better credit than going through with a foreclosure.  Plus Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will loan a homeowners money in 2-3 years if they go through with a short and 5 years for a foreclosure.  Selling on a short sale the homeowner also has control over if their lender will issue you judgment for the balance owed.  Usually a foreclosure will produce a higher judgment than a short sale and most lenders will waive the judgment if a homeowner sells their house on their own and the owner has a choice whether they want to deny the short sale if their lender doesn want to provide a judgment which would be pointless because if the lender will issue a judgment with a short sale you can count on them issuing one after a repossession just with a lot more fees.

Winston Salem is a city in North Carolina that has been hit hard by the foreclosure crisis and home values have dropped.  In order for a homeowner with the pressure of foreclosure encroaching due to them being behind on their mortgage payments nad have little equity, they should consider a short sale.  They can contact professional home buyers that can work directly with them and their lender to postpone a foreclosure sale or they can work with a real estate agent.  Just know that a real estate agent can’t get the file process since the lender will want a bonafide offer to purchase from a buyer to get the file moving.



Repossession