(Reriani Communications)--- Kirkland, Washington -- Americans continue to lose real estate wealth in record numbers. In 2008, homeowners lost $2.4 trillion of their housing wealth and 20% of the mortgages in America were under water (where mortgage balances exceed the property's value) at the end of December, according to First American CoreLogic, a California-based provider of real-estate data and mortgage analytics. That's more than 8.3 million mortgages compared with 7.6 million three months earlier and it's a problem that is expected to get worse as home prices continue to fall. An additional 2.2 million mortgaged properties throughout the country are approaching negative equity, the report found. Many homeowners are now in a position they never imagined and are ill-equipped to deal with. They don't fully understand their options and they don't know where to turn. That's why Short Sale Nation (www.ShortSaleNation.org) was founded.
Short Sale Nation is a newly-launched, online self-service tool, designed to help homeowners and their real estate agents facilitate a short sale. A short sale occurs when a home is sold for an amount less than the full payoff amount of the loan. Getting the lender to accept less than what is owed can be difficult, confusing and stressful. The benefit of doing a short sale is that it gives the seller some control over how their debt is handled. Otherwise in a foreclosure, the homeowner is still responsible for the deficiency, something many homeowners don't realize. Short Sale Nation has a step-by-step guide through the short sale process and sample documents to provide an example of what homeowners need to send to their lender. There is also a safe online activity and call log for homeowners, so their agent and attorney can exchange notes. Additionally the site includes a place where homeowners can rate the cooperation of their lenders and make comments and ratings that are then made available to the public so that lenders can be held to better business practices.
"The term short sale is growing in recognition due to the fact that so many sellers are upside down in their mortgages. Short sales are very complex issues to deal with," said Gerhard Ade, Caldwell Banker, Realtor, Kirkland, WA. "I'm very pleased to see that there is now a nonprofit service available that helps homeowners and their agents understand what's involved and gives instruction in how to equalize the debt to value imbalance while trying to sell in a negative equity situation."
"Completing a short sale can be a long, stressful and complicated process. By definition, the term 'short sale' is deceiving," said Jack Burns, Director, Short Sale Nation. "Nothing about the process is 'short' and understanding all of the aspects of a short sale can be difficult. Short Sale Nation wants to help inform you how to do a short sale and provide you with the right resources and tools to help you get it completed."
About Short Sale Nation
Short Sale Nation assists homeowners in equalizing the relationship between the home's value and the debt against it as the property is sold. As a non-profit, Short Sale Nation is motivated by the success of its members, without any expectation of financial gain from them. It is a no-cost membership organization, funded by sponsorships and donations. The mission is to provide the tools and information homeowners and their real estate agents need to facilitate their own short sale on their over-mortgaged property.
About our founder
Jack Burns is a licensed real estate agent in the State of Washington with The Cascade Team. Burns has been involved in pre-foreclosures for five years, focusing primarily on short sales. During this time, he negotiated scores of short sales on behalf of distressed homeowners, resulting in approximately $5 million in discounts on mortgage payoffs. It was during the course of these short sales that Burns realized the process should be automated and in a format that makes it easy for homeowners and real estate agents to facilitate their own short sales. Burns has been the president of Estate Rescue, LLC as a for profit company and a member of the Better Business Bureau. Burns has PHP (Professional Housing Provider) accreditation for excellence and integrity in real estate. He also volunteers and contributes to Help for Hard Times, a nonprofit that assists victims of floods.
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