A Short Sale Experience in Greater Newburyport.
Short Sales are always a little tough, and we see quite a few of them in the surrounding towns of Amesbury, Salisbury and Merrimac. Rare in Newburyport and the Newburys.
I did one last month in which I represented the Buyer, and things went very, VERY wrong!
The seller had hired a short sale negotiator who was not detail oriented, and a competent and experienced negotiator is key to the success of the deal. This one failed to check the title and wasn’t aware of another lien on the property.
Once we got the seller’s banks to agree to the sale, the buyer’s lender’s attorney discovered a third lien for a credit card debit of $7000 – 3 days before closing.
The Buyer had no additional money to cover this, the Seller had no money at all. This lien should have been part of the negotiation with the two banks holding liens on the house and covered as part of the deal.
My clients were without suitable housing at the holiday season – with two very young children.
The only was to do this was to take it out of my commission and the listing agent’s commission. I insisted that the short sale negotiator come up with a chunk too.
Lesson learned: Ask for assurances that the negotiator has checked the title liens before you start. It may seem evident – but not everyone checks the devil in the details.