Cons of Short Sale, Foreclosed Homes in Colorado, Real Estate Denver

Short sale transactions are mostly preferred than foreclosures because it doesn’t only benefit the home-owners and lenders but also the agents. One of the main reasons for this is that agents get paid by the lenders to do a short sale. This is because the lenders save on the costs and time in doing a short sale process than foreclosures. Agents don’t get paid if the home-owners lose their homes to the bank after going through the foreclosure. Even if the home never qualifies for a short sale, the agent could still get free public exposure, not to mention a new business, through signage, open houses, marketing, and posting listings online.

On the other hand, foreclosures, even if more painful and embarrassing to the sellers, have also their benefits. Benefits include no mortgage payments to be made. Foreclosure proceedings take months to conclude. Until the foreclosure is final, the home stays with the owner. No strangers trespassing through your home. Sometimes banks give cash in exchange for keys after the public sale. Although there are benefits to foreclosures, still, a few people, apart from the sellers who choose to buy and bail, would like to experience this. Losing one’s home could be a very sensitive issue to home-owners. All the good memories that were made in that house could go with the foreclosure of it. Other drawbacks could be your right as a homeowner is stripped away. Homeowners return to the rental market as a renter. Another thing is the embarrassment of a Notice of Public Sale post on your front door. Your credit ratings will suffer and foreclosure will remain on your credit report for 10 years. You will not be eligible to buy another home for 7 years without extenuating circumstances under Fannie Mae guidelines.

The benefits to the home-owners of having a short sale outweigh that of undergoing a foreclosure. One is you can retain some dignity in knowing that you sold your home as opposed to having the back take it away from you. You won’t suffer the social stigma of the “F” word or foreclosure. No mortgage payments to make unless you choose to make them. You can meet the new owners. Under Fannie Mae guidelines, you can buy your new home in only 2 years instead of 5 to 7 years if you undergo foreclosures.  It would be much better if your credit report does not reflect a more than 60-day late payments, you will be eligible to buy another home immediately.

Some of the drawbacks of undergoing a short sale include the trouble of having to convince some lenders in doing so. But some of these setbacks seem to have a lesser impact than foreclosures. Waiting for the bank to respond to an offer is frustrating. The bank may be too strict with some documents and would like to examine your personal records such as tax returns, bank accounts, assets, and liabilities, in addition to asking for a hardship letter from you which is kind-of troublesome. It could be a hassle for your privacy to accommodate buyers from time to time.  This would mean keeping your home clean for weeks or months until an offer is made and also putting up with traffic through your home. The bad credit will remain for 7 years.

The real motivation for many sellers is the chance of buying another home in just two years if you would do a short sale. Good credit behavior will even help you overcome the bad credit for two years, even though the negative feedback will remain.