Anyone Do Short Sales on Estates and/or with the VA?

[Ibrahim Hughes]

Hi all:

Has anyone done a short sale on a property owned by an estate? How about with a mortgage owned by the VA (estate or non estate)? Just trying to find out what to expect. Are short sales where the owner is deceased necessarily easier? Are VA loans easy to short? I have one where the mortgage is with the VA and the property is owned by an estate. Thanks.

[Scott Hubbard]

Originally posted by Ibrahim S:

Hi all:

Has anyone done a short sale on a property owned by an estate? How about with a mortgage owned by the VA (estate or non estate)? Just trying to find out what to expect. Are short sales where the owner is deceased necessarily easier? Are VA loans easy to short? I have one where the mortgage is with the VA and the property is owned by an estate. Thanks.

VA and FHA are under the Housing of Urban Development (HUD) so you would really approach a short sale with VA much like you would with a conventioanl. There will will ba servicer/lender you would begin with.

As far as a short sale within an estate, are you saying the borrower/seller is deceased? Short sales occur because the borrower is trying to workout a short pay with the lender in order to reduce the losses and negative reprocussions. In order for the short sale to make sense, the lender and borrowers should benefit over a foreclosure scenario.

So, if an estate owns the title and the borrower is deceased, there is no benefit to him/her. If the setate has title and the beneficiaries defaulted on the loan, then it is likely a foreclosure or deed in lieu scenario.

If, however, the title is in an estate like a trust and the borrower is not deceased, then you would pursue it much like you would an other short sale.