A short sale does not mean a fast sale, like most people think. A short sale occurs when you sell your property for less then what is owed on the mortgage balance. For example, if your mortgage balance is $300,000 and you sell your property for $200,000, the $100,000 difference is the short . In laymans terms, short sales means 'the shorting of the mortage to the bank".

The most important thing when buying a short sale is a most to have an experince agent to assist you with the processes. Before you decide to buy a short sale in there several steps you need to be aware of.

Step One –  Financing

It's very beneficial to have a good strong lenders letter before you start looking at short sales in Annapolis. In most cases, most mortgage companies want a non-contingent offer when buying a short sale.

Step Two – Start looking at short sales properties

Once your finances are in order, then our sales executives will sit down with you to see what your needs are. Then, our sales executives will start working to find you a short sale property according to the criteria you have determined works best for you.

Step Three – Contract Negotiation

Don't assume, that just because a house is listed as a short sale, it’s bargain priced. When we find a short sale property that you are interested in, our sales executive will do a comparative market analysis (CMA) to determine the property's market value. In many cases, the short sale property value doesn’t match the asking price, so a CMA gives you a basis from which to determine how much to offer on the short sale. Once we have determined our offer price, then we will have to determine if a home inspection will be conducted on the the short property and what time line we are going to exstablish for all inspections.  Once we have the details figured out we will submit the offer.

Sometime the mortage holder of the short sale may counter your offer. At that time, you and your sale executives will termine the best course of action.

Step Four – The Waiting Game

When buying a short sale, you must mave pateince! Closing a short sale will be determined by several factors; is the property is an approved short sale, the amount of short, amount of mortgages on the property, who holds the note on the property, who is negotiating the contact and your offer.

In our experience, short sales can take as long 120-180 days. In many cases, most short sales are closed within 60-90 days. As the buyer of a short sale, you need to be aware that it might take months and we might not get any updates for weeks at a time.

Step Five – Closing

Once the mortgage holder of the short sale propery fully approves the offer, in most cases, you will have 30-45 days to settle on the property. A full title search will be conducted to ensure there are no outstanding leins on the the short sale property. Once you have a clear title and your loan is fully approved, then we proceed to closing!