Beware of Short Sale Experts

If you have considered hiring an attorney or real estate broker that proclaims to be a short sale expert that is going to solve all of your problems . . . run the other way. Yes, there are short sale experts. But as I write this, in August 2009, lenders are NOT reasonably working on short sales.

1 - Fraud - More and more attorneys and real estate agents are taking money from desperate homeowners, promising them the moon. Let me make it real clear . . . they can NOT promise you anything, because they are NOT the lender you owe money to. My advice to you is, NOT to give any of them any upfront money. If they want to help you, let them get paid on the back end from the lender . . . when they do what they are promising. For the most part, they can't do anything for you.

2 - Foreclosure - Just about every lender we have dealt with this year (2009) has stopped considering short sales. Now I should explain that. Some of them tell you they are still considering short sales, but once you get three months into paperwork, you realize the only thing they are doing is wasting your time and gathering information about you. The fact is . . . just about all lenders are now opting for foreclosure. We recently had a lender that had agreed to a short sale, and while we were in the middle of it, they foreclosed on the homeowner. They never said a word to us until after they had filed for foreclosure. And then, they refused to stop the process and consider the short sale.

3 - Fraud - This one is important to repeat. Do NOT pay anyone advance money to assist you with a short sale. If they can truly help you, they will earn their commission from the bank when the deal is closed.

4 - We Do NOT List or Show Short Sales - To show you how tough it is to get a short sale done, we no longer list short sales unless the Seller is prepared to pay a listing fee . . . with no guarantees the home will be sold. We charge $500 and we list your home in both local MLS services, Realtor.com and dozens of other online listing services, but we make NO representations other than to do our best to help you sell your home. We tell you the chances are slim to none at this time, but for some people they have no other option.

We do NOT show short sale listings because we know they take months to complete . . . if they ever close. This year, 2009, we have seen no short sales close with our buyers or sellers. Banks are under the Obama spell, and with our government pumping billions into the bank executives pockets, the entire system has collapsed.

For more information about Florida Real estate and Buying a Home in Florida visit our website: www.FloridaHomes.PRO or email me Mike@FloridaHomes.PRO