Short sales…Long transactions

As we end 2008 and look back at this turbulent year, one of the defining terms of the year has to be “Short Sale.” Nobody is happy that many homeowners have found themselves in a position to need to sell their homes for less than their outstanding mortgage debt, but at the same time, this wave of potential transactions has created a niche market that can be well served by REALTORS® who have done their homework and know how to make a short sale happen.

NAR and PAR have been at the forefront of creating and collecting resources and tools for members who want to help consumers with short sales. If you’re still looking for information — or if you’ve been doing short sales and want to brush up a bit — here are some ideas on resources provided by your association:

Short Sale transactional forms: PAR has created three short sale forms that can be used in conjunction with existing PAR Standard Forms. These new forms are drafted with the idea that they will help lead both the broker/agent and the consumer through most of the basic concepts of a Short Sale.

• Short Sale Addendum to Listing Contract (Form SSL)
• Notification to Buyer of Potential Short Sale (Form NSS)
• Short Sale Addendum to the Agreement of Sale (Form SHS)

NAR Field Guide to Short Sales: NAR Field Guides are a collection of relevant articles, videos and other relevant resources on various topics. This is a good place to get general background information on Short Sales and to see what is happening in other areas of the country.

NAR Short Sale Work Group: NAR put together a Work Group with members of several relevant committees to review short sale issues and how they related to various aspects of the practice. The Short Sale Work Group (headed by PAR member Bill Lublin), released a report in February, which led to several NAR policy changes. View the report, policy recommendations and a “workflow” document that shows the various steps of a short sale transaction.

Freddie Mac Short Sale Webinar: In conjunction with NAR, Freddie Mac put on an introductory Webinar in October, 2008.  View the Webinar from the NAR Web site.

Do you do short sales?  If you do, what has been your experience with any of these resources, and are there others you’d recommend to members seeking entry to this market?