My South Florida Real Estate Blog

The Federal Government came out with some new rules for short sales and they start today.  The program is called the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program (HAFA).

Some of the points of the program are:

Create standard paperwork for all lenders;

A borrower may receive $3000 to help with relocation;

Borrower will not be liable to repay the debt on the first mortgage;

A servicer can get up to $1500 for facilitating a short sale.  A lender or investor is elibible for up to $2000.

The lender can not reduce the real estate agent's commission.

You are eligible for a short sale if:

The property is your principal residence;

The mortgage originated on or before Jan 1, 2009;

The unpaid pincipal balance is equal to or less than $729,750;

The borrower's total monthly mortgage payment exceeds 31 percent of the borrower's gross income.

I'll read up on it and let you know more about it in a day or so.  Hopefully they are going to shorten the process up so we can all get on with our lives.