Are "short sales" worth the hassle?
The latest craze around these parts--at least with stressed out under-water homeowners and under-employed residential sales agents--is the "short sale." A short sale is nothing more than a sale of a piece of real estate for less than the amount of the total debt secured by it. The concept is attractive, though the reality is significantly less so. Whether it's worth the hassles and heartburn is going to depend on your particular situation.
However, assuming you've decided to actually go through with trying to do this, here are some thoughts and cautions...
First of all, I don't take any credit at all for the following advice and observations. They come from a recent seminar I attended hosted by Fidelity National Title in Novato, at which the guest speaker was Bill Gordon of TMG West. Although based in Burlingame, California, TMG's website indicates that they're doing these all up and down the West Coast. Bill gave a seminar to a group of brokers and sales agents recently and he knows his stuff. He was kind enough to allow me to attend, and was even patient with me when I couldn't keep my mouth shut a couple of times.
