The Difference between a Short Sale and a Foreclosure

Posted on April 19, 2019May 10, 2022 by Jenny Zamora

Short Sales and Foreclosures are Very Different Situations

Most people who have never been through a short sale or a foreclosure, think it’s the same thing. Although short sales and foreclosures have a few things in common, they are both very different scenarios… especially when you’re the homeowner going through it. Doing a short sale will always be better than letting your house go to foreclosure just to avoid the damage to your credit among other benefits.

What’s a Short Sale?

A short sale occurs when a homeowner can no longer afford to make the mortgage payments to their Bank, and they have to sell the home for less than what’s owed. Many times, homeowners are already in active foreclosure when they decide to try and short sale the property. The homeowner must also prove to the lender they’re going through some kind of hardship affecting their ability to pay.

Even if the homeowner meets all the criteria of a typical short sale, it must still have the final approval of the lender. The majority of lenders will opt for a short sale instead of taking a homeowner through a costly foreclosure process.

Benefits of a Short Sale

Avoid Foreclosure- A foreclosure can damage your credit for up to 7 years whereas a short sale will have much less of an impact.

Eliminate your Debt- Eliminate your debt with the bank for good. Be sure that your short sale realtor tells the bank that you’re not able or willing to repay the entire amount of the deficiency.

Cash Back to Sellers Many banks offer cash-back programs so they have money to relocate to another home.

Why would my Bank agree to a Short Sale?

Banks don’t make their money by foreclosing on homes. They lose money… taking a mortgage holder through a foreclosure takes is expensive and can take a long time. Lenders also realize that if they do foreclose on the house, they’re just going to have to list it and end up taking a loss anyway.

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Inspiration Through Short Sales

Posted on March 12, 2015May 10, 2022 by Jenny Zamora

Inspiration can be found anywhere and it’s all up to the individual and what he or she is inspired by. It can be found on a slow walk on the beach or even traveling 90 miles per hour on a speed boat.

Something that’s always inspired me has been helping people. Maybe it’s the mother in me, but whether it’s helping my sons put on their soccer cleats or helping someone to short sale their home and avoid foreclosure, the biggest reward for me is seeing that look on someone’s face when they’ve accomplished something that they thought to be impossible.

Sometimes it’s easy to get derailed from what’s really important in life. One minute you can be in a great mood just driving down the road then an impatient driver cuts you off or you get a flat tire. Then, all of a sudden your in a bad mood and frustrated and you allow it to ruin part or even the rest of your day.

When you look at the big picture, instances like these are just little obstacles that are part of everyday life and making them out to be anything more is just a waste of your time and energy. So don’t sweat the small stuff!

Working as a short sale realtor in Orlando, I’ve had clients get discourage and frustrated about how long it’s taking their lender to process their short sale, or if it will even get approved! They have to live with a sense of uncertainty about what the outcome will be which can be mentally draining. Although their frustration is warranted, it’s a complete waste of time and energy to worry about what’s out of your control.

Having completed thousands of short sales over the years, I’ve become a counselor for distressed homeowners in helping them to deal with the emotional side of the process. Potentially losing your home can be stressful and even mentally crippling, especially when you have a family that’s depending on you to keep a roof over their head.

A real estate agent’s role in completing a short sale is basically a middle person between the seller and the short sale lender. If a seller takes their own sweet time in sending me documents that the bank is requesting yesterday, then they’re only hurting themselves. In this case procrastination is the homeowner’s worst enemy.

I try to get my clients to maintain a positive outlook on the situation and focus on the desired results, which is to complete the short sale on their house and avoid having a foreclosure on their record and even get them a few thousand bucks back from the bank at the closing. Keeping a positive attitude throughout the process will only make things easier and help to reach their goal.

Although short sales are never guaranteed, if you have the right team fighting for you, then at least you’re giving it your best shot. If you or someone you know need help with an Orlando short sale, give me a call 407-902-7750 or visit https://orlandorealtyconsultants.com/short-sale-experts/

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Another Orlando Foreclosure Stopped In A Nick Of Time!

Posted on January 26, 2015May 13, 2022 by Jenny Zamora

This is the story of Veronica from Hunters Creek, FL. I’m not using her real name or address because this short sale is still being processed. However, the fact that we’ve stopped the foreclosure sale a total of five times in the past two years I felt was worth writing about.

It’s the typical short sale stuff you hear from lenders. “We didn’t get the file”, “the financials need to be updated”, “the BPO came in too high”, “we’re still waiting to hear from the investors”, you name…on this file, we’ve heard them all.

This case, however, came with a bit of a twist at the end of the year. In December of 2014, everything was set to go, the bank had everything they needed including a solid offer for the price that they wanted. With a foreclosure sale date of January 20, 2015, there was more than enough time to get this one closed and put it behind us.

Out of nowhere, the bank decides that there isn’t time for them to process the short sale and they proceed to close the file!!? WTF? are the only three letters that make sense here. Any realtors that specialize in Orlando short sales know exactly how frustrating this can be, especially after putting so much work into something.

Although I’m not an attorney, after making hundreds of visits to the courthouse, sometimes I feel like one. My client was so disgruntled with the bank that she was ready to call it quits and just let the property go to foreclosure. I asked my client to allow me to give it one more try and asked her to write to the judge requesting a postponement and explain her side of the story. The judge immediately agreed and granted a hearing the following week. Since my client had to work on the day of the hearing, I just had her sign a power of attorney so that I could speak to the judge on her behalf.

Being that we had already stopped the foreclosure sale on four separate occasions, I was a little worried to be perfectly honest. I guess the lender’s attorney assumed this would be a slam dunk and didn’t even bother to show up! This made things a bit easier for me to explain my case to the judge. It took some explaining but after working on this file for over 2 years, I wasn’t about to go down without a fight.

After hearing the entire story, the judge decided to postpone the sale date once again! He granted us another three months to get the deal closed, March 12, 2015, which also happens to be my birthday! Although we only need a few more weeks to close it, it’s nice to know we have time to spare.

Working as an Orlando short sale realtor since 2004, I have countless stories like these. If you’re looking for someone to help you avoid foreclosure and the short sale of your home, give me a call at 407-902-7750.

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ORC Closes Another Orlando Short Sale

Posted on December 8, 2014May 10, 2022 by Jenny Zamora

ORC closes another Orlando short sale. Jenny Zamora, Listing Specialist/short sale expert known for getting her listings sold in record time for top dollar has beaten the odds once again. Now… I don’t write about every short sale listing our company closes [or I wouldn’t have time to write about other stuff] but I felt that this one is worth sharing.

This Orlando home was originally listed by an investment group that claimed to be short sale experts and promised to get the job done fast and efficient, and of course… free of charge. In reality, they were actually wholesale flippers that ended up dragging the homeowner into deep water.

The strategy of a whole sale flipper is to submit a low offer to the bank on a distressed home in hopes that the bank will accept the offer so that they can flip the deal to another buyer without having to close on it themselves. If it works, the flippers make a few thousand bucks the seller gets rid of their problem and everyone’s happy.

However, if the bank rejects the offer the homeowner is then left holding the ball. Once the wholesale flipper realizes that they can’t make money on the deal, they will typically move on to the next potential seller [or victim] at this point leaving the homeowner in a bad situation to fend for themselves.

Getting back to our story…The lender set a foreclosure date just 30 days away and the investment group bailed on her when they couldn’t get the short sale approved. After reading our online reviews, the homeowner came to us thinking that all hope was lost and her home would surely be foreclosed on.

After consulting with distressed homeowner, we accepted the file and Jenny Zamora went to work immediately on the short sale. By using all our marketing tools as well as blasting the property details to our network of active home buyers from around the world, she quickly got the word out and managed to get serious investor interested in the property for a price that lender was happy with.

By getting all necessary documentation to the lender quickly in an organized and efficient manner, they stopped the foreclosure process allowing ample time for the new buyer to close on the property. As a result, the lender issued a new short sale approval letter that gave the buyer 30 days to close on the property even though the buyer only needed 10 days to close.

If you’re in need of completing a short sale on your Orlando home, please, please, please beware of so-called “short sale expert investors” that promise to save you from foreclosure. Be sure to research anyone you plan on working with extensively. Many of these companies are only out for their own financial gain at the expense of the homeowner.

It’s important to know that unlicensed investors aren’t bound by a code of ethics nor are they subject to follow the same laws that licensed realtors are. An Orlando realtor is sworn to put the best interest of the homeowner first and if they don’t, they can be prosecuted and potentially lose their license.

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