Oklahoma City Short Sale Series-Part Two

 Part 2-What consitutues a Hardship for a homeowner and what is the next step.

In Part 1 we went over the reasons why a homeowner should consider a short sale if  they are in default on mortgage payments. In this section we will go over what a mortgage company needs in order to accept the homeowner as a short sale . In many areas of the country where bubble prices have deflated, many people are under the value of their mortgage balance. In Oklahoma City, that has happened in very few cases. A mortgage company is no automatically going to give you a free pass just because you want to walk away from your payments, so let's go over the three most common reasons for a short sale.

Job loss or job disruption. So many families have two wage earners to keep up with expense requirements. When one or both loss their jobs, or if they are shifted down to part time work money gets really tight. You have to have your car for transportation needs and you can't neglect the kids. Even in the "low unemployment" environment of Oklahoma people lose their jobs, and the rate has climbed to above 6%.

Medical Reasons. Medical probelms can be devastating. I personally experienced this last year by being in Houston for 3.5 months with considerable personal expenses for cancer treatment. Fortunately I had reserves, and our business in mobile and i had a team in Oklahoma City. Most people can't do that.

Divorce. Oklahoma City has a divorce rate of around 50%. When two people are on the note and mortgage and one leaves, it can get to be a problem. I am listing a short sale today for this very reason. Also these problems don't have to be separate. Having medical problems can lead to job loss, and a loss of a job can lead to tensions that create divorce.

What is the next step? In Part 3 I will post about how to select a Realtor to help you. I will tell you now that considerable paperwork needs to be done to back up the hardship. My team does not list the property without anywhere from 40 to 100 pages of documentation done upfront. We will need a financial statement, tax returns, a hardship letter explaining the problem, and more. FYI, mortgage companies can't make empty your 401K or use your credit cards to make up differences if you have a hardship. Loss mitagators are swamped with work right now, and an incomplete packet will get you to the bottom of the pile. This packet is not sent in until a contract is signed, and typically loss mitagators get bonuses on the number of files they can push to Phase 2. In part 3 I will detail the qualifications needed in a realtor to rescue you from foreclosure. In the meantime you can check our our short sale answer site at www.stopforeclosureoklahoma.com.