The steady increase of houses put up for sale has seen the cost of homes plummet. This has led to the struggling of borrowers in fixing mortgage loans, while foreclosures continue to sky rocket. Today, both lenders and sellers share a round table to discuss issues concerning short sales in real estate. As most sellers often play down prices of homes to lure buyers through the door, most short sale deals do take a dive into oblivion as both seller and buyer walk away.

A short sale in real estate is said to happen when someone who borrowed money could no longer cope with mortgage payments, and the money owed is more than the market value of the house. From a good point of view, it seems that short sale is more beneficial to home sellers since when such sale is approved, the home seller tend to avoid foreclosure. This move by the seller can be understood in the light that the negative consequences of short sales to credit evaluation is lesser when compared with that transactions on foreclosure. Short sale had been characterized with stress and unrealistic figures, but the current program streamlined it; thereby making all involved in the process get some financial incentives.

The new program, called HAFA (Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives), borrowers will have to be given a 30 day short sale request notice by lenders. The borrower is then supposed to respond within a 14 day period, while all foreclosure transactions are left suspended during this asserted time frame. To a get better understanding about that you can click here!

The Program requires a realtor, among other things, to deduct a realistic commission costs from the price of sales, which can’t be negotiated after the acceptance of an offer. For more information on the goings-on in short sales click here!