An easy short sale, that sounds like an oxymoron. But as the mortgage servicing industry has come face to face with how ill prepared they are for handling the flood of short sales the administration has stepped in to help make the process easier.
As we all know the Home Affordable Modification Program has been around for the past year. Less than 10% of the distressed homeowners have been able to take advantage of the program due to the fairly restrictive qualifying guidelines, i.e. you have to have a job and your mortgage payment must be equal to or exceed 31% of your income. HAMP has left many homeowners out in the cold.
A month ago HAFA came on the scene. HAFA stands for Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives. With HAFA the process of the short sale has been standardized. The servicer must offer this option to the homeowner if HAMP does not work. The rules of the process are clearly defined and timelines are clearly delineated. This system will help keep the process on track and with the incentives that are being offered to servicers the short sale file will rise to the top of the asset manager’s list of priorities.
In addition the frustration levels for buyers in a HAFA short sale transaction will be lowered because of the strict timelines and clearly defined rules.
All in all, it sounds like a great solution to the short sale problem.