Short Sales Are the New REOs

Here we are at the beginning of a new era with the number of Maui short sale listings on the rise—an increase of 337% in the first quarter of 2010 compared to last year.

Thankfully help is on its way in the form of short sales to support homeowners in their own economic cataclysm and unable to pay their mortgage. For homeowners who want to know, but are afraid to ask about utilizing the benefits of short sales, here are the new HAFA (Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives) Program highlights: support, protection, and even cash to relocate.

In the not so distant past—less than a year ago in Hawaii—short sales were something most agents ran from, myself included. Short sales meant never ending paperwork, with each bank struggling with their own new systems and forms, not to mention escrows lasting 8 months to a year and longer.

Short sales thus became the new right-of-passage for real estate agents who had to 1) traverse a maze of phone calls 2) sort through piles of offers attached to a larger number of impatient buyers, transgressing to a final confirmation, only to 3) find that the buyer walked and purchased another property, leaving the agent and seller to start all over again and the property vulnerable to foreclosure.

Yet here we are at the beginning of a new era with the number of Maui short sale listings on the rise, an increase of 337% in the first quarter of 2010 compared to last year. So, does all of this mean short sales will become the savior of our housing crises, helping emancipate masses of homeowners in Hawaii from the throes of foreclosure?

Well, it’s all too early to evaluate, yet according to industry experts, short sales are the new REOs. Short sales have been targeted as a compassionate way to help alleviate the ills plaguing homeowners and the future of the real estate industry. A future that promises a brighter ending for sellers, allotting them perks of $1,500 to relocate for inking successful sales, and a sense of dignity versus the shame of eviction. In the end, short sales are the hope for homeowners to experience less severe losses with the possibility of restoring their credit earlier, by facilitating the sale of their property rather than adding it to the already-saturated REO rolls.

See Maui Short Sales and REOs

Don’t wait! If you are a homeowner on Maui who is contemplating the sale of your property through the short sale process, contact me immediately for a private and confidential consultation at no obligation.

Kathleen Wilson, SSCP – Short Sale Certified Professional and SFR – Short Sale Foreclosure Resource.