What is a Short Sale? Click here to learn more ...

Selling a home in Charleston, SC and surrounding areas?

 If you're ready to sell your home in the Charleston area or the Barrier Islands, you will, of course, want professional help -

Here's how Dan Lorentz and ERA Tides Realty can help you sell your home.

What do I get when I list my house?

Comparative Market Analysis: The preparation of a CMA from our information compiled in the Multiple Listing Service and Public Tax Records assures us that your property is competitively priced for the neighborhood and will get you the highest value for you and your family.

Website Marketing:  Your home will be advertised on our home site www.era.com which receives over 4 million unique visitors monthly as well as  WSJ.com-Real EstateJournal.com, AOLrealestate.com, Openhouse.com, Frontdoor.com, BetterHomesandGardens.com, Cyberhomes.com, Homescape.com, ERATidesRealty.com , Realtor.com, ERA.com, Oogle, Google Base, Vast, Yahoo Classifieds, Hotpads, Trulia, Geebo, OLX, Backpage.com, Dothomes, DanLorentz.com, and Craigslist.  In today’s market we are seeing that over 90% of buyers look online prior to calling an agent.

Virtual Tours: I use the most looked at home marketing piece available today.  The VIRTUAL TOUR! This is an extremely helpful tool that allows buyers the opportunity to view your home as if they were standing in it.  All of the tours are uploaded to my listings and I also upload them to YouTube!

 The Multiple Listing Service:  Your home will be placed onto the MLS to be advertised to any realtor member of the local MLS as well as any websites that tie into our service, such as Realtor.com a site that gets around 5 million unique visitors monthly.  We will also have multiple photos online for viewers to look at the home from their computer.

Email Blasts:  We will periodically be sending out email blast fliers of your home to any member in our 2K person database.  These individuals are all likely candidates to purchase the home.  This is a very effective way to directly target interested buyers.

Lawn Sign:  I will be placing a lawn sign in the yard to increase exposure on your property to those who drive by periodically.  In addition to the yard signs I have directional signs that are placed on several corners to direct drive bys to the home.

Open House:  This is an invitation for the public to view your home without an appointment and this is a more attractive way for folks to view a home.  This is a great way to get traffic up in a home that has been on the market for a while.

Just Listed Postcards:  I will be sending out Just Listed postcards to the neighborhood as well as our database of prior clients or present prospects.  This is a great tool to market the home to a broad audience.

Print Publications:  I will be placing your home in several local and national print publications and magazines to further optimize the exposure of the home.

We also provide weekly feedback on any showings!

Charleston SC Real Estate Sellers | If you're ready to sell your home in the Charleston or the Barrier Islands, you will, of course, want professional help.

Short Sale and Pre-foreclosure 101:                      

I have received a lot of phone calls in the last several months centered around the same question.  What is a "Short Sale" and how does it work?

A Short Sale is a property where the seller owes more on the loan than the selling price or sales price... the proceeds of the sale fall short of what is owed.  In the short sale process the bank agrees to accept less than what is owed and in many cases will either discount the original loan amount to satisfy the mortgage or take the difference and have the sellers take a deficiency balance to be paid back over time. 

Negotiating a short sale with the lender is a difficult process, generally because it is a daunting task finding a bank officer who has the authority to accept a discount. Your Realtor will have to call around to locate the lender’s “Loss Mitigation Department.” More than likely, each lender you deal with will have a separate name for this department. Much like getting your phone bill corrected, your Realtor can expect the process to involve a lot of waiting on hold and being bounced around an intricate maze of automated voice mail systems. Once your Realtor gets in touch with the right person, then the negotiating begins.

From the lender’s perspective, a short sale saves many of the costs associated with the foreclosure process - attorney fee's, the eviction process, delays from borrower bankruptcy, damage to the property, etc.  In a short sale scenario, the lender gets the property back faster, so it is able to cut its losses. The Realtors job is to convince the lender that it will fare better by accepting less money now.

The lender will want some information about the property, the borrower and the deal offered from your Realtor. Specifically, the lender wants to know what the property is worth. The lender will generally hire a local real estate broker or appraiser to evaluate the property (called a broker’s price opinion or “BPO”). Your Realtor can also submit his own appraisal or comparable sales information to help justify a lower price.

The lender will also ask for financial information about the borrower. Sort of a backwards loan application, the borrower must prove that he is broke and unable to afford the payments. The borrower must show that he has no other source of income or assets to repay the loan. This process may involve as much, if not more paperwork than an original mortgage application! The borrower should submit a “hardship letter”, which is basically a letter about how much financial trouble the borrower is in.

Finally, the lender generally wants to see a written contract between buyer and the seller. The lender wants to make sure the seller isn’t walking away with any cash from the deal. Generally, the contract must be written so that the buyer pays all costs associated with the transaction, so that the “net cash” to the seller is the exact amount of the short pay to the lender. A preliminary HUD-1 settlement statement is often requested, your Realtor can make those arrangements.

Don’t be surprised if your short sale bid is rejected. Lenders aren’t emotionally attached to their properties, so they aren’t as likely to give your Realtor “steal.” Many short sales fall through if the BPO comes in too high, which is often the case. You can’t pull the wool over a lender’s eyes - if the property isn’t is need of serious repair, it is unlikely your Realtor can convince the lender the property is worth a whole lot less than the appraised value.

Definitions

Notice of Default (NOD): The initial document (non-judicial) filed by a trustee that starts the foreclosure process, usually after the occurrence of a default under the deed of trust, or mortgage.   Both LIS and NOD are part of the PRE-foreclosure process.

Lis Penden (LIS): Notification of pending lawsuit. The initial document (judicial) filed by an attorney or trustee that starts the foreclosure process after the occurrence of default under the deed of trust or mortgage. Both LIS and NOD are part of the PRE-foreclosure process.

Notice of Trustee's Sale (NTS): A filing by notice announcing a public auction.

Notice (Judgment) of Foreclosure Sale (NFS): An order signed by a judge, directing a “ Notice of Sale” be published and that a referee (trustee) sell the property at public auction.

Real Estate Owned (REO): “Real Estate Owned” by the lender; the final step in foreclosure process. This document conveys property ownership back to lender.

Government-Owned (GOV): A foreclosed property offered for sale by the government. When a property purchased with a federally insured mortgage (i.e., FHA, VA) is foreclosed by the lender, the federal government pays the lender what is owed, takes possession of the property, and offers the property for sale.

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Glossary of Terms

Foreclosure: A legal procedure by which mortgaged property is sold, upon default, in order to satisfy a debt. Foreclosures generally are governed by state law, and rules may vary between States.  

For more details, visit our Foreclosure Overview of the foreclosure process, including links to relevant State Law.

Deed of Trust: A type of security instrument where the borrower conveys the property’s title to a third party (trustee) to be held “in trust” as security for the note.

Mortgage: A conveyance of an interest in real property, given as security for the payment of a debt. An agreement between two parties: borrower and lender.

Assignment of Deed of Trust or Mortgage: Assumption by a purchaser of liability for payment of an existing mortgage, or deed of trust. May or may not be accompanied by a release of liability of the original borrower.

Novation: The substitution of a new contract between the same, or different parties; a substitution, by mutual agreement, of one debtor for another, or one creditor for another. The result is that the old contract is extinguished, and a new contract is created, usually with the same content, but with at least one different party.

Declaration of Default: a document instructing the trustee (usually appointed by a bank) to prepare and record a Notice of Default (NOD), and if necessary, to sell the property at auction in order to satisfy the unpaid obligation or lien.

Full Reconveyance: a document prepared by a trustee, when an obligation secured by a deed of trust, or mortgage, is paid back in full.  Once recorded, this reconveyance eliminates the lien from the property’s title.

Junior Lien: a legal claim upon real property recorded subsequent to (after) another claim or legal obligation (for example, a senior lien would have priority in most cases).

Postponement: a verbal announcement made at the time and location of the scheduled trustee’s sale, resetting the auction for a later date.

Publication Letter: a letter, when signed by the beneficiary (lender), authorizing the trustee to prepare, publish and record the Notice of Trustees Sale (notice of auction).

Publication Period: a period beginning at the expiration of the default period, and ending when the trustee’s sale has been conducted.  During the publication period, the Notice of Trustees Sale is published, posted and recorded. Recession of Notice of Default: After an amount in default has been cured, or paid-back, this document, when signed by the lender and recorded by the trustee, removes the burden of the previously recorded Notice of Default. Reinstatement Period: The time period beginning when the Notice of Default is recorded, and ending five business days before the trustee’s auction sale. The default may be cured, or paid-back, at any time during this period by paying all delinquent amounts, including the trustee’s fees and costs.