Oppenheim Law Reports Short Sales Up, Saves Homeowners Millions

In an official Florida real estate news release, Oppenheim Law reports about 80 percent of its Florida foreclosure clients had deficiencies completely waived once they closed their short sale, also known as a pre-foreclosure sale, saving homeowners more than $16 million dollars in 2010/2011.

The lesson learned: by working with the banks, homeowners can craft their own real estate bailout and avoid a deficiency judgment.

“We are seeing banks focus on more efficiently clearing distressed inventory through more streamlined short sales,” said South Florida Law Blog’s Roy Oppenheim.

The increase we’ve seen in short sales is in line with numbers reported by RealtyTrac, reporting a 19 percent increase in short sales in 2011’s second quarter, while the number of bank-owned sales was stagnate. 12 percent of nationwide sales were short sales, according to the Q2 2011 U.S. Foreclosure Sales Report released by RealtyTrac.

“The short sale program is not a government bailout, it has evolved through American ingenuity,” reminds Oppenheim, “but is one of the only programs that is truly working.”

Florida banks see the short sale light

The banks would not be approving these shorts sales if it wasn’t an upside for them too, and it is. Banks have finally realized a short sale will also help their bottom line.

The average price for a home sold in short sale was $192,129 in the second quarter, 21 percent below the average price of a non-foreclosed home.

Yet a home that went through foreclosure sold for an average of $145,211, nearly 40 percent lower than a non-foreclosed home.

And more good news for the real estate market, even though there have been a large number of distressed home sales recently, fewer homes are coming on the market.