Investment World Today

If you are currently in foreclosure, strongly consider selling your property. The object is to pay off all debt and expenses, walk away without a foreclosure or bankruptcy on your credit report and perhaps put a little money in your pocket to start over.

Your bank may agree to accept the sale as total satisfaction of your mortgage even if the proceeds of the sale are less than the amount that you actually owe. This is called a Short Sale.

In order to quickly sell your home, you must:

- Put a value on your property - Figure out your bottom-line sale price - Locate home buyers

Listing With A Real Estate Agent

The conventional method of locating home buyers is to contact a Real Estate Agent and ask them to list your property. If you contact an realtor, they will come out to evaluate your property and more than likely ask that you sign a document that allows them to represent you when speaking to prospective home buyers. Remember, DO NOT LET ANYONE PRESSURE YOU INTO SIGNING ANYTHING.

After evaluating your property, the realtor will run a market analysis to identify the price homes with similar square footage, number of bedrooms/bathrooms, and features have sold for within one mile of your neighborhood in the last six to 12 months. The realtor will then suggest a list price that you can either accept or reject. Once your property is listed in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), it will be available to all realtors (thus potential home buyers) in your area.

Disadvantages

Although the realtor handles all of the details, they do not do it for free. Agents usually charge between 3% and six percent of the final negotiated sales price. The seller (that’s you) customarily pays for fees associated with both the buyer’s and seller’s realtor (which usually totals six percent). If you have requested a Short Sale from your lender; the lender may agree to pay the closing costs.

Advantages

The #1 advantage to listing your house with an agent is that you may be able to obtain full price for your house. Again, this is time dependent, so if you have a lot of time, you can request more money. The exposure that the MLS obtains is also a huge advantage.

Selling To An Investor

An alternative to listing your home with a realtor is to locate an investor who is willing to buy your house. This is the best option if you must sell the house quickly, because they are often able to make cash buys. Therefore, the loan processing time is eliminated. Investors can also utilize creative solutions so that you can sell your home with no out-of-pocket expenses, thus you can walk away without any financial obligations.

Disadvantages

The disadvantage of working with investors is that they purchase houses in order to make money by performing repairs and reselling the house or renting it out. In order to make money, they must get the house at a discounted price (usually 10-30 % below market value). That means that you will not walk away with all of your equity.

Advantages

The advantage to working with an investor is that they can move very quickly. Plus, you will not have to perform repairs, make back payments, pay foreclosure attorneys, pay a reinstatement fee, or pay late fees. You walk away with a portion of your equity in order to start over, no foreclosure or bankruptcy on your credit, and hopefully, less stress.

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