Get Paid to Short Sell Your Home

It is true. Some mortgage companies are offering incentives to underwater homeowners to short sell their homes. Short selling refers to the practice of selling a home for less than the amount still owed on the mortgage(s).

People who are “underwater” on their homes and need/want to get out from under the home have to either short sell (which requires the lenders approval) or else allow the lender to foreclose. Now, some lenders, in order to avoid foreclosing on the home, have offered up to $35,000 to homeowners who agree to short sell their homes. This represents quite a change from the past, where lenders were not willing to enter into short sale arrangements. Now, lenders appear much more amenable to the short sale, by doing things such as fast tracking the approval and closing process, paying some money to second lienholders, waiving their right to pursue deficiency balances, and now even offering cash incentives to the homeowner. This is in addition to the $3000 available to a short seller under the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program, which offers $3,000 to qualifying homeowners who complete a short sale.