There are many homeowners in Western Massachusetts who for a variety of reasons have fallen behind on their mortgage and are in a distressed home sale situation. Whether it is divorce or job loss or just a need to move, there are lots of people who need to sell their home, but fear that they can’t sell their home for enough to pay off the balance due to the lender.

Oftentimes these folks allow their fear to prevent them from asking for help or making proactive steps to work with their lender on a solution. Here are some tips that can help if you or someone you know is in a distressed home sale situation.

—Don’t ignore the lender’s efforts to contact you. Yes it is difficult to speak with them, open the mail and handle this terrible time, but sticking your head in the sand will not change what is happening. Staying in touch with the lender can help to gain some time that you can use to resolve the issues one way or another.

—-Call in the professionals. A good real estate agent with short sale, foreclosure and distressed sale experience is a priceless asset to you right now. They know what steps need to be taken and will act as your counselor and advocate.

—Speak with an attorney. There are attorneys in the area who specialize in helping with short sales, loan modifications and foreclosure delay. Reach out and ask questions.

—Don’t wait. If you are a candidate for a short sale it can take some time and the lender will not allow the time for you to try to accomplish the sale if it is too close to the foreclosure/auction date is.

This is a scary and stressful thing, there is no way around that fact, but you can move past this time.

Walking away from your mortgage has serious credit impact that is difficult to recover from not to mention the stigma and personal disappointment that foreclosure entails. Loan modifications and short sales can help you to move on and experience a much smaller credit impact.

Reprinted from my Masslive.com blog. See more from that blog here.

This week an article on foreclosures and short sales came out that even I found shocking. Walking away from your home and allowing foreclosure may not be the end of your mortgage obligation.

The article went on to caution that selling your home via short sale does not automatically absolve you of the debt, either. This I did know, but realized upon reading the article I have never shared this important fact with my readers.

Short sales go something like this (although each one is very unique):
#1- you go into a default position with your mortgage by missing at least one full payment cycle.
#2- you list your home aggressively for fair market value with an agent that understands the short sale process
#3- you contact your lender and stay in communication regarding the status of the listing
#4- you hire an attorney who specializes in short sales
#5- you present offers to the lender for their approval
#6- the lender approves (you hope) the short sale and the house is sold
#7- IMPORTANT: Your attorney should get a signed release of financial obligation from the lender
#8- you move on to rebuild your credit

Step seven, if missed, can mean that the lender will come after you at a later date for the shortfall between what you owed and what the property was sold for. Be sure to discuss this issue with your attorney BEFORE the closing happens!

If you need help with a distressed situation like foreclosure or short sales, I am here to help with empathy and knowledge to give you a helping hand.

I am hearing rumors that the short sale process is going to be streamlined. With the proposed changes the short sale process will be expedited and home retention options will improve.

To read more visit this story at Agent Genius.

If you need help with a distressed situation like a short sale then I hope you will contact me. I have the experience, patience and empathy to help you move on with your life.

A new seller client found me on Google by researching the term “short sale real estate agent in Western MA” and has been following my blog articles of short sale advice and education which are posted here as well as at my regular blog.

While no one wants to be in a situation where they have to sell their home via short sale, I am honored that she valued my input enough to want guidance through this and I am thrilled that I may be able to help her through this difficult time.

She tried to get several other agents to help her with getting informed and I was shocked that they gave her answers like: “short sales are too much work” and “I don’t DO short sales”.

While there is some truth to the fact that there can be extra work involved in selling a short sale, each one is different and they can go fairly smoothly. They are also a reality of our market right now. I find it hard to believe that agents are simply refusing to help, even if only with a referral to another agent that knows how to work short sales.

I find great pleasure in helping sellers with their short sale situations for a few reasons:

#1- I was there and feel empathy for their level of stress. I want to help that stress decrease.

#2- It is a hands on way for me to help the housing market recover and stop properties from foreclosing

#3- It is an avenue of business for me.

So, if you are a homeowner in Western Massachusetts who needs a real estate agent to help you make a short sale work, call me. If you are a REALTOR in Western Massachusetts who doesn’t want to work short sales: refer those clients to me, I will take good care of them!

I am now a featured writer for Agent Genius Magazine: the first multi-author real estate Magazine designed by and for real estate agents nation wide.

Agent Genius Magazine

I have written two articles for them and will be published weekly on the topics covering distressed real estate sales like: divorce, short sales and foreclosure.

Be sure to visit my page there to augment the information you see here.

We are all familiar with the concept of paying it forward. This blog is a small thing that I can do to try to alleviate some of the stress that occurs during difficult housing transitions.

A bit more than two years ago my husband asked for a divorce. The financial fallout that occurred on the heels of this decision was epic to me. Even being in the business doesn’t help when you are staring foreclosure in the eye.

I had two mortgages (my home and my investment property) that were both in and out of pre-foreclosure for the better part of a year while I attempted to sell on the front end of a recession.

The phone’s ring was acid burning my ears, the mailbox might as well have been filled with vipers. The “help” lines at the mortgage companies were staffed by soulless bots and if I stopped to consider my situation the panic would swell to breathtaking levels.

Slowly, painfully, I made one decision at a time (drop the asking price again, accept the low ball offer, etc.) that started to lead me towards resolution.

I often had to call upon a lesson I learned while skiing in the Alps. I was a third year, very intermediate skiier. I spent the morning riding lifts, cable cars, rope tows and puma chairs up and up and up. After lunch you start back down.

I looked out and DOWN and totally freaked out.  My mind churned with frothy panic caps: “I can’t ski this! I will NEVER EVER get off this mountain!”   A friend turned to me and gestured that she was about to start down and saw the blind fear on my face.

“Don’t think of the whole thing,” she said.  “Pick a  point just a little ways from here.  Call it our destination.”

So, I picked a grove of trees not far and ventured off to my first stopping point. After arriving there she turned to me, “So that wasn’t scarey, was it?”  I shook my head.  “OK, so today we are going to ski what is in front of us.  Nothing more, just from here to the next stopping point.”

During my transitions from large home to condo and from married mom to single, I would return to that lesson often.  The words became my soothing mantra: ski what is in front of you Lesley.  Nothing more.  Ski what is in front of you and you will get off the Alps.

I share this so that you know that there are people out here that know what it feels like to be afraid of an envelope.  Keep breathing, call upon your support systems, return to things that bring you peace in damaged times and remember:

Ski What is In Front of You.

If you need me, I am here for you.