- Q: What are the strengths and what are the weaknesses of our Short Sale file?
A: Listen closely to the answer. Has the agent been able to get his/her arms around your situation? Does the agent have a grasp of the issues you are facing?
- Q: What do you feel is the best strategy to get the lender(s) to approve our Short sale?
A: You want to know if the agent has a plan. An agent with experience handling Short Sales will identify early those elements of a Short Sale situation around which a game plan can be built.
- Q: What is your strategy for getting a fair price for our property?
A: If the agent suggests a plan that involves selling your property at a price that is well below the market, that is a sign of trouble. Your lender expects the agent to make an effort to maximize their recovery of capital. Any approach that includes making an effort to sell the property at a significant discount is likely to create a problem.
- Q: What if I change my mind and decide to try and keep my home?
A: The agent should be willing to allow you to cancel the listing agreement if you change your mind or your circumstances change.
In fact, you should ask your agent to include language in your listing contract, which allows you the right to withdraw from the listing contract at
any time, without cost or penalty, if you elect to work with lender in an effort to keep your property.
- Q: If you have two loans on the property, ask the agent how he/she intends to get the junior and senior
lien holders to work together on the approval.
A: Particularly in those cases when the property value is not high enough to fully pay off the 1st mortgage,
getting the junior and senior lien holders to cooperate is critical to getting a Short Sale approved and closed.
The agent must have a plan to get both lien holders to approve the Short Sale.
If the plan doesn’t make sense to you, it probably won’t make sense to the lender.
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