Banks have been doing this for years however in the past few years they have by necessity gotten pretty good at it.  Although it depends on a variety of factors the completion of a successful short sale can take between 60 and 180 days.  In addition the seller will need to “qualify” for the short sale.

Typically the seller must be in a hardship and will need to provide the supporting documentation and application.  In this stressful time sensitive situation it recommended that the seller have professional help.  There are consequences to selling short and you should be aware of them before attempting it. 

Resources that may help avoid a short sale or foreclosure:

Home Affordable Refinance

HOPE for Homeowners

Home Affordable Modification

Foreclosure Alternatives

The information contained here is governed by the Terms Of Use and is not financial or legal advice.  If you need financial or legal advice you should contact your financial professional and/or your attorney.

Consumers are offered free counseling from well trained non-profit counselors as well as details on preventing foreclosure.

While being “underwater” on your home may not spell disaster for some, many face very difficult choices daily in order to pay their mortgage.  So who can blame parents for moving into an affordable apartment or combining households in order provide necessities for their children?

I can site case after case of these responsible families trying to sell their property so they could get out from under the mortgage.  The plan is to get into a home that is less expensive so they can live within their means.  So they listed their property, attempted to work out short sale arrangements with the bank, and competed with the other responsible families to market and sell their homes.  In nearly every case they held on as long as they could, many attempted short sales while others just finally threw up their hands and walked away.  This “responsible” household is now reported as a foreclosure statistic.

With a declining market, high unemployment and a poor economy measures need to be implemented in order to prevent more Americans from finding themselves in a similar situation.  It was reported last week that the HAMP (Home Affordable Modification program) participants is on the rise and growing.  We need to improve and expand this program.  Let’s make a real effort to help our fellow Americans and ease up on any new regulations that may have unintended consequences.  While this program may only provide payment reduction and no mortgage balance reduction, as the rate of foreclosure declines property values will increase.

Pending home sales eased against a deteriorating economic backdrop but remain in a stable range, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

The Pending Home Sales Index,¹ a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in October, slipped 0.7 percent to 88.9 from an upwardly revised reading of 89.5 in September, and is 1.0 percent below October 2007 when it was 89.8.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said a review of the past year is instructive. “Despite the turmoil in the economy, the overall level of pending home sales has been remarkably stable over the past year, holding in a generally narrow range,” he said. “We did see a spike in August when mortgage conditions temporarily improved, which underscores two things – there is a pent-up demand, and access to safe, affordable mortgages will bring more buyers into the market.”

Conditions remain uneven around the country, but some areas that are showing healthy gains in pending home sales from a year ago include many Florida and California markets, Providence, R.I.; Lansing, Mich.; Oklahoma City; and Las Vegas. ²

The PHSI in the South jumped 7.8 percent to 95.9 in October but remains 2.9 percent below a year ago. In the Northeast the index rose 0.6 percent to 68.1 but is 14.1 percent below October 2007. The index in the Midwest declined 4.3 percent to 79.7 in October and is 6.8 percent below a year ago. In the West, the index fell 8.7 percent to 103.7 but is 17.4 percent higher than October 2007.

NAR President Charles McMillan, a broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Dallas-Fort Worth, said he’s hopeful about considerations by the U.S. Treasury. “Efforts to bring down mortgage interest rates demonstrate a clear understanding of the role housing plays in stabilizing the economy,” McMillan said. “We’re very encouraged by all of the proposals getting serious consideration in Washington to help home buyers. More sales will stabilize home prices by bringing down inventory, and would lessen foreclosure pressure.”

Yun expects growth in the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) to contract through the first half of 2009, then stabilize and expand in latter part of the year – lifted by a home sales recovery. “Given the critical role of housing in an economic recovery, we’re confident sufficient stimulus will be offered to bring more buyers to the market,” he said.

Looking at middle-ground assumptions, existing-home sales are forecast to total 4.96 million this year, and then increase to 5.19 million in 2009 and 5.55 million in 2010.

New-home sales for 2008 should total 486,000 this year, decline to 393,000 in 2009 and then grow to 446,000 in 2010. Housing starts, including multifamily units, are projected at 934,000 units in 2008 and 731,000 next year before rising to 772,000 in 2010.

“Price projections are challenging in an environment with so many variables and divergent local conditions,” Yun said. “The home price correction to date has brought prices in line with fundamentals, but buyer pessimism could cause prices to overshoot downward, resulting in further economic deterioration.”

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage will probably decline to 5.6 percent in the first quarter, rise slowly to 6.0 percent by the end of 2009, and average 6.2 percent in 2010. NAR’s housing affordability index is likely to remain quite favorable, averaging 138 in 2009.

The unemployment rate is estimated at 7.2 percent in the first quarter, rising to 8.3 percent by the end of 2009. Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, is seen at 0.7 percent in 2009. Inflation-adjusted disposable personal income is expected to grow 1.5 percent in 2009.

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¹The Pending Home Sales Index is a leading indicator for the housing sector, based on pending sales of existing homes. A sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed but the transaction has not closed, though the sale usually is finalized within one or two months of signing.

The index is based on a large national sample, typically representing about 20 percent of transactions for existing-home sales. In developing the model for the index, it was demonstrated that the level of monthly sales-contract activity from 2001 through 2004 parallels the level of closed existing-home sales in the following two months. There is a closer relationship between annual index changes (from the same month a year earlier) and year-ago changes in sales performance than with month-to-month comparisons.

An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, which was the first year to be examined as well as the first of five consecutive record years for existing-home sales.

²Market information is from unpublished snapshot data; please contact your local association of Realtors® for more information.

Existing-home sales for November will be released December 23; the next Pending Home Sale

Reprinted with Permission of National Association of REALTORS®.