STOPPING A FORECLOSURE SALE

Ever lost a commission because the house foreclosed before you could close escrow on a short sale? What if we could prevent that from happening again?

How We Can Help

Our office has helped many agents preserve a deal by negotiating with the bank to get a short sale postponed. The way we do this is by writing a legal demand that points out the client’s qualifications for short sale, identifies any lender violations from the loan origination, and provides the lender and investor with a cost/benefit analysis of foreclosure vs. short sale. Our demand for postponement is created and submitted by an attorney, so it usually gets reviewed by the legal department or executive office of the banks, calling special attention to your client’s foreclosure dilemma.

Important Considerations

Getting a foreclosure postponed is an art, not a science. No law firm can guarantee that a foreclosure postponement will happen, but there are things that you can do to give our firm and your client the greatest chance of success. Here are some helpful tips to put your client in the best position to get their foreclosure sale date postponed.

1. Get the property listed and active on MLS.

If you are bringing us a brand new client that does not have an active listing, it will be very difficult to get the lender to agree to postpone. Getting the property listed and active on MLS assures the lender that your client is serious about going through with short sale and not just attempting to stall a foreclosure.

2. Make sure your short sale application is complete and properly submitted to the lender.

Your client must be approved to short sale the property by the lender. If your client has not completed the application or failed to provide documentation that the lender requested, the lender will not consider that client’s short sale seriously.

3. Get an offer on the property.

It helps to have a “carrot” to dangle in front of an investor. Our postponements are based on the idea that the investor will make more money if the property short sales than forecloses. Having an offer on the table really helps sell that point to the investor.

4. Expect only a 30 Day Postponement

Remember that any postponement we help you achieve is a band-aid, not a cure. Lenders most often grant only 30-day postponements at any given time. Some clients will need several postponements to close escrow. The faster you can close escrow once an initial postponement is granted, the better, because we may not get a postponement the next time we request one.