A short sale allows a home owner who owes more on their mortgage than the home is worth, to sell the home even though they don’t have enough money to pay the bank in full.
So, for example, let’s say you bought the condominium for $400,000 a couple of years ago and now it’s only worth $300,000 but you owe the bank $320,000.
The homeowner can do a short sale transaction, which means we go into contract with a buyer and then we present the whole package to the bank and try to negotiate with them and get them to agree to take less than they’re owed on the underlying mortgage.
If it’s successful, the homeowner is relieved of all obligations to pay the mortgage and the transaction is done sometimes in as quick as ninety days.