Was anyone thinking?

I met with a new client last night.  A young couple.  Late twenty's.

He works manual labor earning just a tad above minimum wage.  She is a stay at home Mom.  They have a beautiful toddler. 

We talked about their income, we talked about their debts.  They pay their bills on time, all the time.  Their credit scores were pretty good.  They drive a 10 year old car that they own.  A couple of credit cards with minimal balances.

One might think they are living within their means.  The next question might be, what do they qualify for?

Nope.  That's not why I met with them.

They own a single family home and a Duplex.  They have a first and a second on both.  They have Payment Option Arms for the first mortgage on both places.  They've been using the savings they had to stay current on their payments.  That savings is now gone.  He has been working a second job and works 14 hrs a day.  The duplex is rented but the rent doesn't cover the mortgage payments, and they can't increase the rent.

I don't know who put them into the loans they have.  I don't know how they even qualified.  Of all the responsible parties involved did anyone wonder how they would make their payments?  The Lender?  The Agent?  The Loan Officer? The Underwriter?

But this isn't about blame.  Not right now.  This is about them getting back to normal. 

I know that a short sale, properly done, would give them back their life.  It would give their daughter back her father.  It would bring the whole family back together.

Their financial burden was just that, a Burden.  It was weighing heavily on them.  They left my office incredibly lighter.  You could feel the sigh of relief.   Why?  Because they now knew that of all the options available to them - a Short Sale was the right thing to do. 

Is it right for you?  To find out you'll need to ask a short sale professional who knows the area and has systems and procedures in place to properly negotiate for you.