I got a call before Christmas from someone I used to work with - before I made real estate my career. She is a talented, energetic person, married to a great guy who can do pretty much anything - and like zillions of others, they've been hurt by circumstances that they didn't see coming. He's experienced an injury that has created big medical bills and limited the type and amount of work he can do - which translates to big decrease in income.
They have a lovely home in a very desirable retirement community - and their goal had been to enjoy it, watch it increase in value and then downsize, take their equity and reinvest in something a little more modest so they'd have freedom to enjoy their retirement years. The increase in value didn't happen - instead, it decreased, thanks to circumstances outside our control. And with less income, and more expenses, their lovely home is something they can't afford any longer. New goal: make the house go away. And that's where I come in.
They have two loans. Long story as to why - with nothing good to say about how they came to get the second loan and what type of loan it turned out to be. Both loans together don't amount to much more than the value of their property, but enough that it creates a short sale condition.
We put the house on the market at Christmas, then had to drop the price a couple of times. Then we got an offer which reflects current value and is a good deal for the buyer. It took three and a half months, a lot of disclosure, a little negotiation, and we received bank approval of the short sale. Buyer completed inspection this week. Now if buyer's appraisal comes in at or above the sales price, in another month buyer will have a new home and sellers can get on with the next chapter of their lives - somewhere else.
Maybe it's too much to expect everybody to be happy with a sale like this one. It truly is a distress sale. Sellers are only a little upside down - but enough that a short sale is the best choice they can make. Their credit will suffer - at least for a couple of years. Their hearts hurt to leave their home. But their bank would not work with them, a bankruptcy is not in their best interests, and foreclosure is absolutely not what they want to do. So they are packing up and getting ready for the next chapter of their lives, and they are saddened. And so am I.
Sometimes dreams die hard.
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