Possible Short Sale Advice

[downtownlacondo]

I've recently run into trouble with my condo and am hoping you can point me in the right direction. The short story is my girlfriend and I purchased a condo in downtown Los Angeles almost a year ago with a 3% down 10 yr io, 30 yr fixed. Just recently we have decided to separate and I have lost my job. Even if I were able to find another job, I don’t think I would be able to keep payments up by myself. I believe I may be able to move to a cheaper rental and rent this place out with a $600 monthly loss against my mortgage, tax, and hoa. This seems quite painful, especially without a job, so I have been scouring the web to find all of my options. It looks like I can either go for a short sale, dil, or foreclosure. The short sale looks the best for my credit, but I’ve read that they can be difficult to execute. Do you know if people ever put together a short sale package and execute the deal on their own or do most always hire a realtor or attorney? Do you know of any realtors in the area that specialize in short sales? I’d rather go with a referral than a random person from the internet. Also, is there any way I can do a quick quit claim to get my girlfriend’s name off of the condo and loan so that this doesn’t affect her credit? Last thing, I have enough savings to maybe pay for 2 more months on my mortgage, but after talking with the bank (BOA), it seems like they didn’t really care to do anything until I was late on payments. Should I start to miss payments to get their attention, especially if it looks like I will not be able to hold the place anyway? Thank you for any advice you can offer.

[Moe Bedard]

Hi downtownlacondo,

Welcome to the forum and thank you for joining..............

For the referral on the short sale you can ask your lender for an agent from their REO list that they work with in your area..........this tends to make the process run smoother as the agent would know what the lender requires....
Out of the choices if you are looking to purchase again in the future the short sale would look better on the credit than a foreclosure.........foreclosure is around 5yrs now.........short sale around 2-3yrs.....depending on if your payments were in default or not.

Unfortunately the only way to get the girlfriend's name off of the mortgage is for you to be able to refinance into your own name......and for that you would need to qualify......so that isn't possible at this time........
the only thing a quit claim will do is to put the deed of the property in your name but you will both still be responsible for the mortgage note......

Losing your job is a hardship and an agent can help you with the lender and putting together the hardship package for them.......and they can help with the negotiations and contracts as well.......

We can't advise you on whether or not to stop making payments.......that decision would have to be yours......just know that the short sale process does take a while..........so be prepared......

Here is the contact numbers to get you started:

Bank of America Loss Mitigation
1-716-635-2251
1-716-635-7050

Loss Mitigation Fax #
1-716-635-7255

[downtownlacondo]

Thank you for your quick response. I spoke with BOA today and they said they can't give me any referrals for a real estate agent. Is there a good real estate agent review website that would help me to find a good agent in my area? We also spoke about my payments while working on the short sale and it may be possible for me to get a forebearance while I work on the short sale. But I'm a bit confused. If they give me a forebearance, doesn't that get tacked on to the principal balance, which will end up being forgiven in the event of a short sale? Or is the forebearance amount never forgiven? Credit-score wise, is it typically better to default on a few months payments while working on the short sale or to accept a forebearance which I may potentially have to default on? Thanks for your help.

[downtownlacondo]

Is this legit or is it better to just work with a normal real estate agent?

[Moe Bedard]

Work with a licensed Realtor.........look up the California Board of Realtors.........or ask around to some friends.......chances are in this market there is someone who knows someone else in your situation and friends might know of a good agent too.......

Please don't post links to companies that we have not had a chance to check out..............if you want to find out about the legitamacy of a company email it to me instead of posting it.......