Lake Forest

Lake Forest CA Short Sale Success Story – Case Study #19: The team of experts at ShortSalesASAP, closed another short sale listing in Lake Forest, CA, which will be outlined here as Case Study #19.   We always eliminate certain details, and give approximate dates and dollar amounts in order to protect the privacy of the previous homeowner.  This particular short sale was a 2 bedroom, 1 bath condominium, with 835 square feet of living are, and built in the early 1980′s.

The condo was originally purchase by our client in July of 2005′, for a purchase price of approximately $387,000.  This top floor condo was acquired by the homeowner using a 5%  down – 5/15/80 purchase money loan. The 1st mortgage loan balance was approximately $308,000 and the 2nd mortgage had a loan balance of around $58,000.  Both loans were with Countrywide mortgage and the 1st mortgage was a fixed rate loan, and the 2nd loan was an adjustable rate mortgage.  The total loan balance was roughly $366,000.

Lake Forest CA property values have dropped about 36% since the height of the market in mid 2006. Southern California has been hit hard by the  nationwide mortgage loan crisis and the recession.   The short sale property featured in this article, also dropped in price substantially by about 38% to a value of $242,000, since it was purchased in mid 2005′.  This Condominium was upside down by about $125,000. The homeowners income also dropped due to the local recession, and was experiencing difficulty making their mortgage payments.   They contacted us as a result of a past client reference, to conduct a short sale.

We first gathered the required documents from the homeowner which includes; 2 months of bank statement,  a simple financial statement,   hardship letter, Pay Stubs,  and bank account balances. Our team of short sale experts review and package this information in the format that the banks request, and deliver to the banks.  After some cunning negotiations by our Realtor expert Nick Roshdieh,  we convinced the bank who carried both the 1st and 2nd mortgage, to a preliminary short sale approval.   This Preparation Phase took about 4.5 weeks to complete, and during this time, the homeowner lived in the home as usual with no interruptions to their daily lives. Due to their hardship, they were unable to make their mortgage and lived payment free for the entire duration of this short sale transaction.

With the preliminary short sale approval in hand, we started the Marketing and Sales process for this property.   This Lake Forest condo was marketed on the Multiple Listing Service, and also on the Internet but the short sale status was not displayed on any Internet advertising to the public.   The listing price was initially $263,000, which was close to the market value at that time.  After about 4 weeks on market, we obtained an offer for $235,000.   After several counter offers, our listing Realtor, Nick Roshdieh got the buyers to agree to a price of  $243,000.

Our short sale processing team, then went out to gather all of the necessary signatures from the buyer and seller,  review the loan qualification status of the buyer, and we opened escrow.  Our team then packaged the new purchase offer, along with required Short Sale disclosures and Buyers loan qualification paperwork, and submitted the package to the mortgage banks, to conduct the final short sale adjustments of the terms, conditions and costs.

After some tough negotiations with our expert short sale negotiator, and involving our attorney, we got Countrywide Mortgage to agree to this short sale offer of $243,000. With the final bank short sale approval letters in hand, we moved forward with the buyers closing through escrow. This last step was completed in about 44 days and this short sale was completed and closed escrow in the Fall of 2008′.

After the completion of the short sale, and close of escrow, the $366,000 total mortgage debt on the home was deleted. The homeowner was able to rent a comparable condo and saved about $800 per month. The homeowner was able to live in their home during this short sale process and did not make any mortgage payments. In addition, the homeowners FICO score was not as negatively effected as it would have been if the banks had foreclosed.

ShortSaleASAP is licensed with the California Department of Real Estate, and our services are free to the homeowner, for we are paid by the mortgage bank(s).   If you have any questions regarding Short Sales, contact our team of experts at: (949) 388-3396 or drop us an email at: Info@ShortSalesASAP.com