What is a Wellington Short Sale?
We created this very short 2 minute video for you to answer the question: What is a short sale?
Short sales have been around since the origin of the mortgage and loans for homes- properties and other tangibles and non-tangibles. But most people had not really heard what a short sale is until the real estate bust in 2007. Most real estate agents did not know what a short sale was until recently either. Most homeowners did not know what a short sale was and many homeowners still don’t know that a short sale is a great option to foreclosure in many circumstances.
If you are looking for an easy way to explain what a short sale is this video is simple, fast and straight to the point.
Wellington short sale broker Nestor Gasset and Wellington short sale agent Katerina Gasset train and coach real estate agents how to negotiate a successful short sale transaction.
Contact Nestor Gasset or Katerina Gasset for a confidential short sale interview to go over your short sale options and avoid foreclosure today.
Authored by Katerina Gasset
Should I Short Sale My Wellington Home?
This is one of the most frequently asked questions and also one that receives the most judgmental responses.
The first thing you need to ask yourself and go over in your family meeting is your budget. Are you laid off from your work? Are you unemployed? If so, what are your job options and how realistic is it that you will get a job or start a business where you will be able to keep making your mortgage payments or where you can catch up if you are late.
How far behind are you on your mortgage payments if you are behind? Have you been turned down for a loan modification with your lender? If you do short sale your home, where are you going to move? Sometimes we have helped a homeowner discover that paying rent to a landlord will cost them more and get less space then trying to figure out a way to keep their home. In that situation it is not in the homeowner’s best interest to sell their home as a short sale.
Do you own properties that are your investment properties but the rents are not making the mortgage payments because of the real estate market crash?
Are you thinking about just walking away from your home or property and leaving the keys on the table?
These are many of the questions that are constantly being tossed around in a homeowner’s mind here in Wellington Florida and other places in Palm Beach County.
Most of the time doing a Wellington short sale is better than having a foreclosure against you and the judgment that the banks are entitled to after the foreclosure.
Did you know that there are some programs that you may qualify for where your lender will give you up to $20,000 in some cases and in many cases at least $3000 to help you relocate?
We can not promise that you will qualify for one of these incentive programs but the call to us is totally confidential. We will have a short sale intake evaluation with you over the phone and go over your foreclosure options with you. Call Nestor Gasset or Katerina Gasset at 561-753-0135 today to get your short sale questions answered.
Wellington Short Sale Agents Help Homeowners- Testimonial Video- Hear What Clients Say
This is one of the more emotional testimonials we have received after completing a Wellington Short Sale for homeowners who were in foreclosure.
Wellington short sale agents- Nestor Gasset and Katerina Gasset understand what you are going through when you are up against losing your house. We understand that this is a normal process in this economy through no fault of most homeowners. We understand how to work with your banks in order to come to the best conclusion of this part of your life as possible.
Make sure you ask for testimonials from homeowners who actually have done a short sale with the agent you are going to list with. We list short sales throughout Palm Beach county, Broward and Miami/Dade counties. Don’t just read and accept testimonials from buyers and sellers that are not about short sales. Make sure that the homeowners you are reading about had a short sale that was listed and sold.
Wellington Short Sales- What you need to know before you sell your Wellington home.
There are many situations that you may be facing when the subject comes up in your house about whether a Wellington short sale is your best option or not.
The most common reason that a homeowner does a short sale is because they are facing foreclosure.
Because this is the most common reason people do short sales it may seem to many people that you have to be in some stage of foreclosure in order to do a short sale. This is not the case.
If you are in foreclosure in Wellington Florida then the bank does want to try to work things out with you in regards to resolving your serious delinquency. Most of the time, when we are negotiating short sales for Wellington homeowners the banks are more agreeable in negotiating terms with you than if you are current on your mortgage.
If you are behind in your Wellington Florida house payments but not in foreclosure yet the bank also wants to give you the option of doing a short sale in most cases. This is a great time for the bank to save some money by not pursuing the foreclosure filing in the state of Florida but also a good time for you to do a short sale to be able to negotiate the best outcome.
If you are current with your mortgage payments many real estate agents, attorneys and friends will tell you that you can not do a short sale if you are current on your mortgage payments. This is not true in most circumstances. A lot of this depends on your bank and who the note owner on your mortgage is. So it depends on a lot of factors. But for the most part, most Wellington homeowners who are contemplating doing a Wellington short sale and are current on their mortgage payments may pursue a short sale.
If you are current on your mortgage but are in danger of becoming delinquent you are also a good candidate for a short sale. If you are depleting all of your savings and are laid off from work this is a good case to make to your lender that you really don’t want to have a foreclosure on your credit report and you also don’t want to go late on your payments. This is a good time to pursue a short sale.
If you are current on your mortgage, have tenants in your property but the rent does not cover enough to make your mortgage payments- you can do an investor short sale. We work with Wellington property owners and Wellington investors who have lost so much equity in their properties and can not get re-financed. If you are in this situation we have a lot of experience in helping investors get their Wellington short sales approved.
If you are current on your mortgage and do have enough money to keep making your mortgage payments you may be able to do a ‘Strategic Short Sale’. In Wellington there are many homeowners who have lost equity in their property- some to the tune of 50% of their equity evaporated in the mortgage melt down and real estate bust in South Florida. Most of the time with strategic short sales you will get your best offer from your lender if you do go late on your payments. That is when the bank is going to make a move in looking at your short sale seriously. If you keep current on your payments your bank may require a larger cash contribution than if you are late or default. Again, it all depends on who your servicer is and who owns your note. They all have different guidelines.
The best thing to do is to call us- Nestor Gasset and Katerina Gasset at 561-753-0135 to have a confidential phone interview about your situation and we will go over your foreclosure options and Wellington Short Sale options. This way when you are having your next sit down meeting at your house you will have some actual facts to go over instead of just hear-say from good intentions of friends and family members.
Wellington short sales- Some take 3 days and others take over a year.
Our team has been doing short sales in Wellington- South Florida- Texas- California since 1981. The one thing that has not changed is the fact that every single short sale is different. There are no cookie cutter methods and there are no certainties except for the fact that each short sale is different.
We got an approval from Bank Of America on one of our short sale listings within 3 days and closed within the next few weeks. We get a good amount of less than 30 day short sale approvals. But there are also short sales we have listed and sold that have taken over a year.
You can not judge the expertise of a Wellington short sale agent by the length of time that a short sale takes because there are just too many elements that are out of the control of the Wellington short sale listing agent.
So much depends on the lender’s servicer and how many loans are on the property, how close to foreclosure a seller is, if the seller is paying their mortgage payments or not, if the seller is paying their HOA fees or not, if there are attorneys involved or not.
Then there is the factor of the buyers. When a short sale takes too long with the sellers’ lenders’ servicers, the buyers don’t often stay in the short sale transaction. If we are not the ones who brought the buyer to the table, that is yet another factor that we need to pay attention to because many Wellington agents are not involved with enough short sales on the listing side to understand and educate their buyer on the process and what to expect.
While you don’t know how long each Wellington short sale is going to take you can make sure that whoever you have helping you with the transaction and the negotiations with the banks, whether that is your attorney or your real estate agent, has a very high closing ratio of successful short sale transactions closed for the seller.
Short Sale Closings- Another Successful Short Sale Closing
We take pride in closing our short sales and treating our sellers with dignity, respect and empathy as they deal with this chapter in their lives. It is great to help sellers close this door and move on with their lives. With tenacity and assertive proactive actions we make sure that the short sale lenders understand our sellers’ positions and see that it is in everyone’s best interest to not go down the foreclosure path.
Here is another testimonial from one of our short sale sellers that we closed on:
Dear Nestor and Katerina,
I am writing this letter to express my complete satisfaction and gratitude for helping me short sale my property. I cannot thank you enough for helping me through my short sale process. You guys have gone above and beyond what I had expected and have made me feel as if I was a dear friend and not another client. I am especially pleased with the professional service you and your staff provided me, it has been first class. Your knowledge and timeliness has saved me time and money. I could not believe how quickly you worked to get my property sold. I am happy to recommend International Properties and Investments to any that ask, confident that they will experience the same satisfaction in service that I have.
Sincerely,
Steve Fierro
Buying a new house gives a feeling of ownership and that’s the reason why people want to buy a house in their life. But since buying a house is an expensive affair and requires a lot of money to invest, people often wonder how to afford to buy a house. However, in recent times, mortgage loan is the solution to such individuals. People are incessantly obtaining mortgage loans to buy new houses for them but ultimately lagging behind to pay it off, which results in falling them into mortgage debt.
Like others, if you are also under knee-deep mortgage debt and looking for a way to come out of it, short sale is the answer. Short sale is referred to properties that are sold short of the balance owed on the loan in order to stop foreclosure. It is typically the option meant for them who are unable to repay the mortgage loan and have fear to face foreclosure on their property.
Short sale opportunities have changed the way of life of many individuals and have helped them to take care of their personal finances. Rather than struggling to pay an over inflated mortgage, it is wise to sell the property to a buyer at the discounted market price and pay off the loan.
Under the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007, people can sell their property in short sale and can pay off a part of their mortgage loan. And the remaining part which they cannot pay off any more will be forgiven. In this context, it is to be noted that until this Act was introduced, financial institutions or lenders would earn form the interest rates that would be paid by the borrowers and would also earn from foreclosure by selling the property at a double price. But now since when the Act has been introduced, this is a rare fact.
The rarer event now is that sellers can negotiate to repurchase their home at a lesser cost. People who had permissible credit score and financial situation could work through a local lending institution to secure a new mortgage to bid on their own home. But this process involved a lot of risk as most lenders would only work with homeowners who would always lag behind paying their mortgage. However, this turned out to be beneficial to the homeowners as short sales are not treated equal to a foreclosure on the credit report.
A short sale record affects the credit report only for eighteen months, as opposed to a foreclosure that affects for as long as ten years. However, financial planning should be done before you feel your credit report is affected.
In conclusion, if you are not being able to manage your finances and pay your mortgage loan back, consider selling the property in short sale and pay off the loan.
Why we are members of Miami Association of Realtors® and How That Benefits You
International Properties and Investments LLC- we are members of three Realtor® boards in our markets. We are members of the Realtor Association of the Palm Beaches, the Realtor® Association of St Lucie and we are also members of Miami Association of Realtors®.
Miami Association of Realtors® is our favorite board of realtors®. Miami Association of Realtors® combined with some boards in Ft Lauderdale, Broward county and areas of Miami/Dade county. There used to be so many boards to join in South Florida that it was actually cost prohibitive to do business in the Miami metro areas and Broward county because you would have to belong to so many different boards if you had agents in many markets.
The smartest thing that Miami Association of Realtors® did was merging and becoming the power board they are now. There is power in numbers.
How does being a member of the Miami Association of Realtors® benefit our sellers and those who are thinking about listing with International Properties and Investments LLC?
The reach is huge… if you want your property marketed on an international scale and be front and center with foreign buyers there is no other board who can deliver the power of international marketing the way that Miami Association of Realtors® can.
Your property gets marketed in 19 different languages and vast U.S. and International exposure on over 500 websites. We also send your listing to all the members of our network with foreign companies in the International Referral network.
Miami Association of Realtors® partners with real estate professionals in many other countries like Brazil, Columbia, Panana, Costa Rica, Mexico, Argentina, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, Belize, Chile, Bulgaria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Italy, Russia, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Hungary, France, Spain and the United Kingdom.
South Florida is the leader in selling properties to foreign buyers.
Foreign buyers like Polo Players and Equestrian riders and horse owners come to Wellington Florida to purchase Wellington Equestrian horse farms.
Foreign buyers come to the Miami Beaches to buy waterfront condominiums.
Foreign buyers come to South Florida for lifestyle and to open up new businesses here. We welcome foreign buyers.
Nestor Gasset and Katerina Gasset are Certified International Property Specialists and network with real estate professionals from many different countries.
List your property with International Properties and Investments LLC for to get your South Florida property marketed to more foreign buyers.
Wellington Fl Homes For Sale- Another Successful Closing
One of the best places to meet people and potential buyers and sellers is at the gym or health club. Here is the post I wrote about making the most of your gym memberships- not only do you get a healthy and good work out you can also get great customers or clients.
Nestor goes to the gym on a regular basis. Since he is one of the most personable people I have ever met and he also has a great personality- it is easy for him to get a repor going rather easily.
He gets a great handful of listings and buyers from the health club. Of course when you can lift 400 pounds on the bench press it does get quite a bit of attention:).
We just closed on a very nice property with a buyer that Nestor met at the health club. It was an all cash deal as are 60% of Wellington real estate transactions. We have an awesome team of buyers agents however, Brian and Nestor made a great connection and it was going to work out best if Nestor worked with him.
Here is Brian’s Testimonial letter:
My wife and I recently purchased a home in Wellington, Florida with
the assistance of Nestor Gasset of International Properties and Investments Inc. We wanted to share our positive
buying experience. With the inherent stresses of purchasing a home,
we were put at ease with Nestor’s demeanor, sincerity and
professionalism. Nestor knew what we were looking for in a home and
had our best interest at heart. Throughout the several month home
search, we looked at Nestor as a friend, not a realtor “doing his
job”. He took it to a higher level than I have ever heard of. He
surprised my wife and I by having a 16′ moving pod dropped off in the
driveway of the home we were living in to ease the “moving pains”. It
was indeed a sign of Nestor’s sincerity and dedication to insuring we
had the most positive home buying experience. So, to you Nestor
we thank you so much. Brian and Lisa.
The property is spectacular and the perfect fit for Brian and Lisa. Brian works in a very high stressed environment in his line of work so the tranquil tropical oasis in his new back yard is going to be such a blessing in their lives.
Working with Wellington sellers and Wellington buyers for over 15 years we know the area, we live in Wellington and we raised our children here as well as still one more… and now grand children too… see what Wellington is all about!
Contact Nestor Gasset and Katerina Gasset today at 561-753-0135 for premier Wellington properties.
Not paying your HOA Fees is the #1 Killer of Short Sales and Deed in Lieus.
Many homeowners who are behind in their mortgage payments are also behind in their HOA fees. When we take on a short sale listing it is very important for the seller to understand the ramifications of NOT paying HOA fees.
In the state of Florida the HOA can foreclose on you, they can lock you out of the pool and clubhouse, they can evict you after the foreclose on you and rent your condo or property out, they can deny you access through the gate.
And the HOA can do this very fast. Many people here are being told by their agents, by their attorneys and by their friends and family members that their HOA can not foreclose because the first bank, the main lien holder, is in first position and if your bank has not foreclosed the HOA can’t. Well, that is NOT TRUE.
The HOA can foreclose on you subject to the first lien holder. They don’t need your bank to foreclose on you first or at all.
If you are planning on doing a short sale then you should do all you can to keep up with your HOA payments. If you are far behind and the HOA has their legal council contacting you- make some arrangements to pay towards the part you are behind.
If your HOA fees get too high, your lender is not going to approve those to be paid out of the net loss they are getting at closing.
If you want to do a deed in lieu you have to be current with your HOA fees or you have to negotiate with your lender to pay a portion of those fees for you because you must give clean title in a deed in lieu.
Attorneys tell us that for deed in lieu- the number one killer is the homeowner being behind in their HOA payments.
Most every attorney we know that understands the short sale process advises their clients that even if they are not making their mortgage payments they should keep current with their HOA payments.
We are not attorneys and we are not giving you legal advice. Consult an attorney if you are behind in your HOA payments.
If you or someone you know is behind in their payments consider a Florida short sale.Contact Nestor or Katerina Gasset at 561-753-0135 today for your private confidential interview to go over your short sale options.
Why Won’t The Foreclosure Judge Force My Bank To Modify My Loan?
In Florida we are a judicial foreclosure state which means that you can fight your foreclosure in court. You can have your day in court and you have your defenses.
If you have not made your house payments for a while you will get served at some point in time a summons and complaint for foreclosure. Some banks will serve you with a foreclosure lawsuit about 10 days after they send you an accelleration letter and others will not serve you for a while. Some people get served with a foreclosure lawsuit within 60 days and others it could be years.
The contract you signed when you bought your house- is between you and your bank. When you did not have enough money to buy your house with cash you asked your bank to give you a loan. The bank said yes but in return you would be signing a promissory note. This is what we call the ‘Note’. The note is an agreement for you to pay your bank back the money you borrowed. It was a contract between you and your bank. But your credit alone was not enough for the bank to give you the loan for your house so you signed a ‘mortgage instrument’ which became a part of the transaction agreement you made with your bank. Your mortgage is an agreement that you offered up your house as collaterol to back up your promisorry note that you would pay back the money you borrowed.
Your mortgage instrument says that the bank can take away your house from you if you don’t pay your agreed upon house payments and other fees. But the bank has to take you to court or file a motion in court, like a law suit against you in order to actually take the house away from you because Florida is a statutory warranty deed state. That is the subject of another article.
Since this is all an agreement you and your bank made when you want to remodify the terms of that original agreement the bank does not HAVE to do so. It is a misunderstanding that the bank HAS to let you modify or refinance your loan or do a short sale or do a deed in lieu. They don’t HAVE to do any of those things because it is not in the contract that you have with your bank.
So a judge can not force the bank to go against their own contract unless of course the bank created your contract in a fraudulent manner or violated laws in doing the contract with you.
The court can order your bank to go to mediation to try to work things out with you. The supreme court of Florida passed a ruling that says that all foreclosure cases must go through mediation before the bank can get their foreclosure judgment. The court can do this because it is about rules of court. They can determine what their rules of court are.
The judge can force the mediation but the judge can not force the outcome of that mediation. The mediation is confidential and the details of the mediation resolve is not brought up in court.
So the answer is NO- the judge does not force your bank to modify your loan. He can not force you or your bank to agree to anything that is not in your contract with the bank.
Disclaimer: We are NOT attorneys and we are not giving you legal advice. Please consult an attorney who knows how to help you defend your foreclosure lis pendens.
Nestor Gasset- Katerina Gasset- 2011 Top 9% In Wellington and Palm Beach County out of over 5000 real estate agents in Palm Beach County.
Bragging rights:) and self-promotion going on here with a smile on my face- yes, it is time to toot our own horns here!
Back in 2007 there were over 10,000 agents in Palm Beach County and that number has dropped by 50%. We embraced short sales since we already knew how to do short sales since the 90′s recession and the 80′s recession.
More agents were doing short sales in Wellington and Palm Beach County in 2011. We remained in the top closers for our short sale listings. This is because we don’t give in nor do we give up. The last person that just googled to find us put in google: keyword + Aggressive short sale agents and our name popped up for them. You can not be passive and close short sales. You can not be an order taker and close short sales.
It was exciting to get the email from Ocean Capital Lending announcing our 2011 success being in the top 9% of all the agents in Palm Beach County. The best part about it is that it is a third party validation of our numbers, in other words, I did not do the math, a third party did:) And that is always a good thing!
Nestor & Katerina Gasset
