Category: Short Sale FAQs

Important Information For FHA And VA Short Sales

Shawn Polston here of TucsonShortSale.com and Keller William’s Southern Arizona in Tucson. Today I wanted to talk about FHA and VA short sales. Compared to other "regular" short sales, these are completely different. There are certain nuances to doing these short sales and because of this I wanted to give you a few pointers and questions for when you’re looking around for someone to handle your short sale transaction should you have this type of loan. Being government loans, they’re actually not referred to as short sales.

With VA loans they are referred to as a compromise sale and with FHA loans they are called pre-foreclosure sale program. One of the major things with a VA short sale is that they will give the borrower up to $1500 in relocation assistance, however they don’t automatically do it. Your agent has to make the request, otherwise you won’t get it. The other thing about a VA short sale, you can no longer have another VA mortgage unless you pay them back for the short sale. This doesn’t mean that you can never get another mortgage, you just lose your VA eligibility until you pay them back for the home that you had to do a short sale on. If you’ve got a VA loan and you’re considering a short sale, make sure whoever you are working with is aware of these things.

For FHA loans, the process is quite similar. When you get approved into their pre-foreclosure sale program, they give you an automatic $1000 if you complete the short sale within the first 60 days and then $750 if you complete it within 120 days. With FHA short sales there is no obligation to repay them to qualify for another FHA loan in the future. There are some other intricacies to getting those short sales done, but I just wanted to make sure that you knew the major points of these two different types should you be contemplating a short sale with one of these loans. If you have any further questions about FHA, VA, or traditional short sales, please contact us.

Make Your Decision Easier By Using The Short Or Stay Calculator

Hello there Shawn Polston here with Tucson Short Sales and 520 Short Sales thank you for checking out my blog today. I work with Keller Williams Realty in the Tucson area and my team and I specialize in short sales. I update my blog frequently to provide relevant content to homeowners looking to avoid foreclosure. If my blog is helpful today, or if you would like more information, take a minute to browse my website or contact me directly to discuss your options.

For my blog topic today I wanted to discuss a very common question that is very important to anyone considering a short sale. When I speak with a distressed property owner they always want to know what their home will be worth once the housing market improves and gets back to normal. It is a difficult question for anyone to answer but I have a new service on my website that gives homeowners a good idea of their homes current and future value. This service is called the Short or Stay Calculator and with some basic information about your mortgage this calculator can give you a snap shot of when your home will no longer be underwater. By simply entering your mortgage balance, current address, and roughly what your monthly mortgage payment is the Short or Stay Calculator will provide your homes value in different recovery scenario’s. The Short or Stay Calculator will show your homes value with slow, medium, or aggressive appreciation. The calculator will also show your continued cost of ownership in order to understand if it makes sense to stay in your current residence.

If you have any questions about the short sale process or the Short or Stay Calculator please give me a call and we can set up a free consultation. My team and I are committed to helping Tucson residents avoid foreclosure and make the best real estate decision available. Thank you for time today and I hope to hear from you soon.

To try out my new short sale calculator, click on http://tucsonshortsalecalculator.com/

Should I Pay My HOA Fees If I’m Facing Foreclosure or Short Selling?

Hi, Shawn Polston with Tucson Short Sales; we are your leading short sale team in the Tucson area. I wanted to talk to you today about homeowner’s associations and what happens with them in the event of a short sale or a foreclosure.

As a member of an HOA, you are obligated to pay the dues. If you do not pay the dues, the HOA has two options to pursue these unpaid dues. The first of these options is that they can formalize the lien against your property and attempt to foreclose it. The problem with this option is that there’s usually a mortgage on the property, and if they put a lien on it, they actually have to pay off the mortgage before they can foreclose on the property. Simply put, if the house is worth less than what the mortgage is, the HOA is not going to do that.

The other option that the HOA has is to pursue you personally. They can do this even after a foreclosure. A few of my clients have come to me a few weeks before their foreclosure date, they haven’t paid their HOA dues for the past few years and now there’s an enormous HOA lien on their home. The lenders in short sales, generally speaking, are receptive to paying that lien. But, sometimes, they aren’t because the lenders know that if they foreclose on the property, the HOA loan gets wiped away from the property and the HOA’s only recourse is to come after you personally.

Typically I recommend my clients that no matter what happens with the property, they need to keep paying their HOA dues because it could come back to haunt you. If you keep your dues current, it’s going to help you in getting a short sale done. I’d love to talk to you more about this subject, or anything related to short sales or foreclosures, so please give me a call today.

About Shawn Polston

Shawn has been a Realtor since 2006. Prior to becoming an agent Shawn and his wife were active real estate investors. Shawn takes his education seriously; he’s taken over 200 hours of continuing education classes, to keep up-to-date on current laws and trends. Shawn is a member of the Arizona Association of Realtors Master of Real Estate Society and a Graduate of the Realtor Institute. He is also a HAFA certified Short Sales and Foreclosure Specialist in addition to being a National Association of Realtors Short Sale and Foreclosure Resource.