Sellers hoping to sell their homes through short sale (where the mortgage lender agrees to accept less than the value of the mortgage) may have an easier time working with their lender with the new Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative Program. The Obama administration introduced this program last week.
"Short sales are often riddled with delays and red tape," Vicki Cox Golder, president of the National Association of Realtors, said in a recent prepared statement.
The goal of HAFA is to streamline the short-sale procedure, clarify guidelines and set deadlines for completing deals. It also creates a process for the homeowner to get preapproved short-sale terms even before listing the property. Knowing what terms would be acceptable to the lender would speed up the entire sales process.
If they could accomplish that, it would take a lot of guesswork out of buying a short sale home for a buyer as well. Many realtors and buyers currently avoid short sale properties due to the uncertainty and complexity of these transactions. Hopefully, this program will make the process a lot more palatable to buyers and sellers.
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This is great news! 🙂