Woodland Hills California Real Estate Information - Short Sales part # 2
Welcome to part 2 of our series, 'Short Sales In Woodland Hills California- What You Need To Know. If you have not read Short sales In Woodland Hills Ca. part #1 then please take a moment to read the first in this series.
Just because you own a house in Woodland Hills California and you have found out that you owe your lender more money than what a buyer is willing to pay for it, does not mean you are going to be able to` sell your house for less than what you owe your lender. 
You must pass the Hardship Test. There must be a good and undoubted reason why you can not keep your home any longer.
The Distress Test: Ask yourself these questions and look at your situation to see if it will pass the distress test.
- Did you loose your job since you bought the house?
- Did you have a bad accident or illness in which you got hurt and could not work?
- Do you have large new medical bills that you incurred since buying the house?
- Have you been relocated to another city or state?
- Has your interest rate gone up so much that it is now a hardship for you to pay your mortgage?
Now each short sale request is looked at independently. Each situation is different. But you must be able to prove there is clearly a hardship.
What is NOT a hardship?
If you have used your house as you ATM machine and took all your equity out of your house and are now in debt, well, that is a hardship that is going to have a tough time being accepted. I would suggest that you do what you have to do to keep your house.
If you bought your house on the tip of the market and now it is worth less than what you paid for it, that is not a hardship and not a reason to sell your house as a short sale in Woodland Hills.
The Asset Test: Do you have assets that you can liquidate to bring to closing when you sell your house short of what you owe your lender?
- Do you have money in CD's and Savings Accounts?
- Do you have equity in other properties?
- Do you have stocks and bonds?
If you have assets your lender is not going to take all the loss and not have you bring some money to the closing table. They will only accept the short sale if you are contributing as well to the loss. You may be able to negotiate the loss with your lender.
The Fraud Test: Did you commit fraud when you applied for your loan for this property? This means did you lie about anything on your loan application such as:
- How much money were you making?
Any of these untruths or lies, whatever you want to call them is going to be checked out by the lender. They will match up what you are saying now to what your application said when you applied for the loan. If there are significant difference between your loan application, and the short sale application than there better be an explanation of why the difference, losing a job is obviously a reason for a drastic change in income.
We will not list your property as a Short Sale in Woodland Hills if you committed fraud, you will be required to turn in a short sale package which we will help you put together and send to the lender along with an offer and then you are exposing the fraud and that can have serious ramifications to you.
The next post in this series of Short Sales In Woodland Hills California will cover the documents that you are required to put together in the short sale package. So stay tuned for Part 3
Disclaimer: This post is not intended to be or to provide legal advice. We recommend that you speak to your attorney and your tax accountant regarding specifics and to find out if this is the best option for you in your situation.
Copyright© Rachel Zeppinick 2008 All Rights Reserved Woodland Hills California Real Estaet information - Short Sales part 2 . Contact Rachel Zeppinick for customized listing packages
P.S. If you are listing your home as a short sale in Woodland Hills California make sure you hire an agent who knows how to do short sales and has the experience to get the job done. We are doing successful short sale packages. Call us at 818 – 288-7255 to find out more.