short sales/discounting mortgages

[Randi]

Hi all,

I've been reading about discounting mortgages, but have not bought the only course that I know about, which costs $600. Zowie. Anyway,  I'm intriqued. I understand that lenders might be motivated to discount a mortgage rather than going into foreclosure (for several reasons).

What I want to know is: how motivated are they? Has anyone done this? Is there a magic percentage that a lender is willing to give up? THat sounds too good to be true.

Also, when you make the offer to the homeowner, it must be necessary to make the offer contingent on the bank agreeing to the discount. How do you write that contingency?

Any ideas, suggestions, ramblings or musings appreciated!

Randi

[WilliamGA]

Randi,

Being somewhat new to short sales (having attempted 6 so far, only 2 of them coming to fruition) most of what I offer you is heresay, course material and teaching from others. A little from personal experience.


[What I want to know is how motivated are they? Has anyone done this? Is there a magic percentage that a lender is willing to give up?]


Different lenders have different levels of motivation, some won't even talk to you, some want this tremendous package of info before they will speak to you and some just want to "know what your offer is" on the phone. It varies, big time.

I have tried several and actually gotten 2 to agree to sufficient numbers, unfortunately, the deals fell apart for other reasons during the due dilligence process.

No magic % as far as I know. I have heard that there is a # they won't go below but so far I have not found it.


[Also, when you make the offer to the homeowner, it must be necessary to make the offer contingent on the bank agreeing to the discount. How do you write that contingency?]


I write it up as "Agreement to purchase subject to buyer negotiating a satisfactory agreement with mortgage company". Works so far.

[Randi]

Thanks, William, for the very helpful info. May I ask which course you took and whether you found it worthwhile?

Stacey, I notice you took a LeGrand short sales course. Would you recommend it?

(I'm not so much cheap as poor.  :oops: )

Happy investing, all.

Randi

[WilliamGA]

Randi,

I attended Ron's short sale 1 day workshop. Poor organization with the event aside, I enjoyed it and got valuable information. It was worth the 500 bucks or so I paid.

As far as course material, Jeff Kaller's course is very good as well as very pricy, close to 1k.  He should spend some of the proceeds on website security as I noticed that his site was hacked recently. LOL

Joe Kaiser's course is also quite good although I wouldn't recommend it for anyone who hasn't been "around the block" so to speak. While it is very affordable (around 150 bucks I believe) it is also fairly advanced.

There are a few others that I have heard of but the reviews have not been good. Personally, I felt that I got enough out of Ron's deal to get started if I had bought nothing else, but that is just me.

Hope this helps,