General Short Sale v. Foreclosure question (short sales, foreclosures, rental)

[fsquid]

Just noticed that the house next to me is now listed a shortsale by their realtor. Is there a time period where the bank makes them move out? They don't take care of their yard and once the bank makes the move out, I'll probably go over there and cut the lawn and what not to just make the area look a bit better.

[FLPL75]

Short Sales can be tricky. The Realtor can list it as a short sale but the bank makes the final decision on what they will accept for the house. If hasn't gone into foreclosure the bank can't make them leave until a shot sale offer has been accepted by the bank and closing has happened.

Eric is an experienced Short Sale Realtor and may be able to provide more information on how the SS process works

With regards to Foreclosure

It typically takes 180 days to complete the foreclosure process
Here is the time line breakdown

FIRST MONTH: Sellers get behind on their first payment. They receive a letter from the lender advising them that they did not receive their payment.

SECOND MONTH: Sellers get behind on their second payment. They receive a letter from the lender advising them that they did not receive their payment and they need to remit a payment promptly.

THIRD MONTH: Sellers get behind on their third payment. They receive a letter from the lender advising them that they did not receive the payment and that the lender has forwarded this file to the Attorney. The Attorney will start foreclosure proceedings if the seller does not pay.

FOURTH THROUGH EIGHT MONTH: A Complaint for Foreclosure Summons and a Notice of Lis Pendens is filed with the Court advising the public that the Sellers are in foreclosure.

* Lis Pendens notice served followed by 20 days to file an answer. The serving could be immediately because they are easy to personally serve or it could take some time if they have moved and cannot be found. If the Plaintiff/Lender cannot find the Defendant/Sellers to serve, they will have to publish in the newspaper for a period of a month or more depending on the statute of law. Once service is made on each party, they have 20 days to answer the Complaint from the date they are served. Most Sellers do not answer the Complaint.
* Answering the Complaint may delay the time period for the foreclosure but with no guarantee. When ALL PARTIES (they serve husband, wife, tenants, all other occupants, other lien holders) are served, there is a hearing date scheduled.
* After the answer period ends (and sometimes even before) the lender's attorney will file a motion with the court to declare summary judgment. There is an additional 20 day answer period before the hearing can be held. Defendants are allowed to attend the hearing and speak. It is recommended that an attorney speak for the borrower if they so desire.
* At the hearing the judgment is entered and a sale date is set (usually in 30 days). Then the property is sold at auction to the highest bidder.

After the sale, there is a 10 day waiting period after the foreclosure sale before Clerk issues Certificate of Title. At that time the new owner can have the Sheriff show up and set the old owner's possession out on the curb. The lock's can be changed and old owner would be trespassing if they go back into the house.

[fsquid]

so they might not go anywhere for a while. Crap.

[EricBoyd]

Karla did a good job covering things on foreclosures.

I'll add this. Just because a home is listed as a short sale, it's not a guarantee that a home is headed towards foreclosure. In today's market, that is usually the case, but there are still cases where a mortgage may have an approved short sale, but the borrower was never delinquent on their payments. When a short sale request is made, a "hardship" must be proven by the seller, in order to get an approval by the lender. That hardship may be financial, job transfer, military PCS orders, loss of job, divorce, death, or other family issues.

If you're having an issue with the yard or property condition, it may be a case where you can complain to your HOA, if any, or complain to the city/county about a code violation. But, even those efforts may prove fruitless if the homeowner simply doesn't care about their home. Sad, but that's how it is sometimes.

[wb3690]

the house next to us is a foreclosure.......thankfully the yard is taken care of.......well generally....I've seen worse.

[FLPL75]

Great info Eric
fsquid do you have an HOA where you live ? This might be your best bet. There was an empty rental house in our neighborhood that went into Foreclosure. The yard was horrible, over grown lots of weeds. While waiting for the HOA to stop being "warm & fuzzy" and do something I did call the city code enforcement. The woman I spoke with said they are receiving so many calls about yard violations all over Jax that that they weren't able to do much.

I am surprised the Realtor hasn't suggested to them that they do something to help make the property more attractive to prospective buyers. Especially since there are so many S/S & FC out there for Buyers to chose from.

Do you have any type of speaking relationship with this family ? If so you might want to mention to them that one day while you were out front someone had stopped wen they saw the sign and you heard them comment "too bad the yard looks so horrible we might of been interested in taking a look at the house"

lol if your not comfortable with "stretching" the truth DM me the address I will google map the house and then say it to you

If the Weather folks are correct and we get the hard freezes the next few morning pretty much all the lawns are going to turn brown so maybe it won't stick out as bad

[suncica]

I am interested in buying a condo in Florida which is listed as "short sale".
My realtor says that the bank owns the condo and has approved the listing price.
As a buyer, what are the risks of getting involved in a short sale purchase?
Sunny

[luvingme23]

i wonder if they could have saved their property altogether by going into bankruptcy. i mean either way their credit will probably be screwed. but at least would keep their property. am i right?

[fsquid]

Originally Posted by luvingme23

i wonder if they could have saved their property altogether by going into bankruptcy. i mean either way their credit will probably be screwed. but at least would keep their property. am i right?

well, their foreclosure notice appeared in the newspaper in March with a sale on the courthouse steps for early May. They are still in the house as of this morning, so I'm thinking they went the bankruptcy route.

[EricBoyd]

Originally Posted by suncica

I am interested in buying a condo in Florida which is listed as "short sale".
My realtor says that the bank owns the condo and has approved the listing price.
As a buyer, what are the risks of getting involved in a short sale purchase?
Sunny

This statement is a little confusing. As far as I know, only an individual owner and mortgagor will be requesting a short sale from their lender. That means the seller still holds legal title to the property. If a bank is the owner, then there's no "short sale" to be had. They own it. That might just be a simple miscommunication between you and your agent, but I just wanted to mention it.

If the lender has approved the list price, then that should speed things up, as long as you offer the list price and don't ask for any concessions that would lower the bank's net amount.

If you're doing FHA financing, make sure the condo community is FHA approved, otherwise FHA won't finance it.

Good luck!