As a licensed California attorney with decade of real estate experience, Michael Gaddis, J.D. has the in-depth knowledge and expertise needed to effectively negotiate with lenders and banks to assist homeowners with their distressed properties. His successful track record of over 100 successful short sales and nearing 1000 successful loan modifications speaks to his ability to fortuitously handle the many trying obstacles that arise through these transactions. If you have exhausted all other efforts and you know it’s time to short sell your home, Michael Gaddis, J.D. will ensure the process runs as smoothly and timely as possible.
Why trust this difficult time and rigorous, complicated negotiation to a sales agent when you can have an Short Sale Attorney and Expert protecting your interests? Contact Michael Gaddis, J.D. today to schedule a complimentary initial consultation. You may be surprised as what you discover when you get your questioned answered by a professional. It is not uncommon for our clients who are “certain” they must sell their home, to discover they have other options for recourse. Most Realtors’ sole objective is to sell your home, ours is to understand your scenario and give you all your options and to protect your best interests. Find out what all of your short sale options are when you meet with a Real Estate Broker and Attorney.
What is a short sale? A Short Sale is a loss mitigation tactic utilized by lenders in which a lender agrees to accept less than the unpaid principal balance on a loan securing real property because, by doing so, the lender avoids the additional fees and costs associated with foreclosure. The amount remaining after the conclusion of a short sale is called a deficiency. The benefit of a short sale to the borrower is that the deficiency is typically waived by the lender and reported to the credit bureaus as “settled for less than the agreed upon amount”. This reporting, while negative in nature, is far better than having a reported foreclosure.
The answer to that question, while seemingly simple, is much more complex than one would anticipate. The first question a homeowner needs to ask is why is short sale even a consideration at all. Homeowners tend to fall into categories. The first category of homeowners are those that are concerned about the value of their house. These homeowner's only concern is how much they owe on their loan versus its currents market value. The second category of homeowners are those that are more concerned with obtaining an affordable payment. Even further some people who think they "have" to short sell may be candidates for loan modifications...
Short Sale News
Homeowners and agents alike need to be aware of potential short sale problems before beginning the short sale process. One of the biggest obstacles to a successful short sale can be junior liens. Junior liens are creditors that have a security interest in the property; however, their security interest in the property is subordinate to the primary lien holder. Junior lien holders can take many forms and include, but are not limited to, Home Equity Lines of Credit (“HELOC”), stand alone second liens, mechanic’s liens, judgment liens, tax liens, etc. It is extremely important that both a homeowner and their real estate agent be aware of the existence of any of these prior to beginning the short sale process. Short sale problems start when an inexperienced real estate agent does not investigate the homeowner’s title prior to beginning the short sale process. In a short sale, junior lien holders are typically out of position and are unable to recover any money arising from their security interest in the case of a foreclosure. Junior Lien holders’ power arises when the homeowner wants something from them, such as short sale approval. Junior lien holders will use this empowerment as an opportunity to try and recover as much money as possible. California law prohibits lien holders that agree to a short sale from pursuing a deficiency after agreeing to a short sale. Thus, a Junior Lien holder has the opportunity to either negotiate a full settlement of the account or push the homeowner into a foreclosure and, in the case of recourse liens, pursue the homeowner in an attempt to recover a deficiency judgment. Most Junior Lien holders will negotiate and although they will not always accept the exact amount allocated by the first lien short sale approval, they will put a number on the table which is acceptable to them. Since the homeowner needs clean title in order to complete a short sale and since the junior lien holder has the power to prevent the short sale from being completed by not agreeing to the short sale, homeowners desiring to short sale need to negotiate with these junior lien holders. More problematic are judgment and IRS and state tax liens. These liens must be resolved in order for a short sale to be completed. It is important that homeowners seeking to short sell their homes secure the services of a real estate professional that is capable of handling complex transactions. Once a homeowner has retained a real estate professional to assist them on their short sale it is extremely important that the homeowner disclose any issues that might affect the sale of the property. If properly disclosed, the real estate professional will have time to try and find resolutions instead of finding out about an IRS tax lien at the 11th hour and facing a trustee sale. Homeowners and their real estate professionals are a team and need to work together in order to achieve the common goal of a successful short sale.…
Come visit the Michael Gaddis, J.D. Realty Group booth to speak with us in person in a fun, local environment.
Sunday, April 14th, 2013 9 am – 5 pm Located on Via Vera Cruz, San Marcos, CA Featuring 200 Vendors, entertainment and kid’s activities! Enter for a chance to win prizes at our booth!…
Short Sale Attorney
I get numerous calls every week from homeowners that are in the short sale process that are having issues with the Realtor that is assisting them. I am always sympathetic to their position and constantly hear, “I wish I had found you before I chose my Realtor”. The truth is I wish they had as well because, if they had, they would not be experiencing the problems that they are contacting me about. There is not much I can do to help these homeowners except give them a little advice and knowledge and send them on their way. Ironically, I also get numerous calls from Realtors who are conducting short sales that are at impasses and are unable to address an issue that has arisen during the short sale process. In essence, they have bitten off more than they can chew and are seeking advice and guidance so they reach out to me for assistance. The bottom line is that while some short sales are very easy and will close without a fuss most short sales have problems or moments of crisis and the Realtor handling the short sale better have the knowledge and know-how to circumvent the obstacles that are sure to arise. The truth is, not many of them do so many of these short sales fail.…
Short Sale Pros and Cons
Distressed homeowners throughout California facing the realization that keeping their home is not a reality often contemplate short sale pros and cons. After making the discovering that they will be unable to refinance and discovering that either they cannot qualify for a loan modification or that the payment that they could qualify for on a loan modification is not low enough to allow them to keep the house homeowner often consider the option of short sale. A frequent question homeowners ask is exactly what is a short sale. Very simply, a short sale is selling your house with the Lender’s permission for less than what is owed on the note. Notwithstanding the plethora of real estate agents that swarm upon distressed homeowners attempting to convince them to short sale their homes, homeowners want to know the short sale pros and cons and how a short sale will benefit them.…
