Obama's Foreclosure Plan

For homeowners of Charlotte North Carolina, the foreclosure trend has affected complete neighborhoods.  Banks are taking homes back through foreclosure and bank owned properties lower the current market value.  Homeowners that need to sell their house fast face stiff competition from banks that are selling repo homes for less than market value.

There is little a Charlotte Real Estate Agent can do since the housing market is flooded with homes that are listed by real estate agents.  In December the Charlotte market had over 30,000 homes on the market and only about 2,200 houses sold.  The numbers suggest that less than 10% of the homes on the market are selling.  Sellers that need fast solutions must take matters into their own hands in order to sell their house quickly as possible, especially when they are facing foreclosure.

The only problem is the decline in home values in Charlotte, homes that once had plenty of equity now only have little equity and in most cases they have no equity at all or even negative equity.  Before the current market shift homeowners would have been stuck with a home that is upside down.  Now those homeowners have a solution and that solution to their tough house problem is a method that is becoming well known, the short sale process.

A short sale is when a the sellers mortgage lender agrees to reduce the amount owed on their mortgage balance to allow the homeowners to sell their house quicker for a better price.  Short sales are becoming more popular due to the foreclosure crisis that has been affecting house sales across the country.

Short sales benefit lenders because they can get their money now and save all the hassle of taking back a house that might or might now sell in the next 6 months plus.  Agreeing to a short sale also saves lenders thousands of dollars in lost mortgage payments and paying for foreclosure fees and closing cost.

Homeowners benefit from short sales also by being able to walk away from a home they no longer want or can afford.  In most cases lenders will agree to allow the seller to walk without coming after them for the balance left from the mortgage reduction and the sales price.  Plus a short sale relieves homeowners from coming to the closing with cash.  These benefits are perfect since the housing market in Charlotte, North Carolina has been going down since February 2008.