Autumn & David Hackney
Husband and Wife Real Estate Team
Short sale agents in Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg and areas around Sevierville TN
Short Sale Realtors ®

A few recent cabin short sales to home foreclosure sales

Sellers - Short Sale Listing Information

We are both certified with Short Sales / Foreclosure Certification - SFR. A short sale can be a great way to sell a property when a seller is in financial trouble.  As a seller, you will need to be very proactive with your lender to get one of these approved.  You will be required to fill out a short sale package describing your current financial situation.  They will want a great deal of proof before allowing you to start the short sale process.  Next, you will need a qualified agent to list your property.  The lender will want the agent's contact information and require daily to weekly updates from them.  The agent will also need to be extremely proactive with the lender to get a deal processed to closing.  The agent will then check for comparable sales of similar properties.  The list price will then be a best guess as to what will get the quickest and best offer to stop a foreclosure.  This price is not set in stone with the lender. You can get a great offer just to get turned down later or have a counter sent back by the bank. Typically the price is so aggressive that there is not much negotiation room at all.  Again, the price needs to be according to comparable sales and low enough to get a quick offer.  The lender will perform their own checks and balances, once an offer is received, to ensure the price is in line with comparable sales and to ensure they can afford to take the loss.

As a seller, in a short sale, you can make no money from the sale of the real estate.  Many cabin owners sell the furnishings outside of the real estate deal, to make some extra cash.  It is permitted, as long as it is completed outside of the real estate transaction. 

Here are a few points they normally do not tell you:

* The lender will typically sound like your best friend when doing one of these types of sales.  Keep in mind, they work for their bank and really only care about their bottom line.
* The lender can require you to pay cash at closing to close a deal.
* They can also stick you with a promissory note for the balance owed on your loan.
* The worst part of a short sale is the tax liability.  We are not tax accountants, so speak with your accountant before taking on one of these.  In most cases, you will be required to pay taxes on the difference between loan amount to sales price as income for the year.
* The short sale will also affect your credit for awhile.

None of this is as bad as a foreclosure but it is information you should think about, prior to starting one of these.  Listing Information

Buyers - Short Sale Buyer Information

A "Short Sale" is a pre-foreclosure.  It is when a seller can no longer afford their home and can prove to the bank their financial hardship.  The bank will review their situation and then approve/disapprove a short sale in lieu of foreclosure. 

The bank then agrees to a price.  In a true short sale, the seller will make no money in the sale.  The bank accepts a huge loss and will agree to allow the seller out of their obligation to them.  The asking price is usually a pre-determined starting point.  We tell our clients to expect multiple offers and to treat an offer like you would a silent auction.  The bank will usually look over all the offers over a period of time.  They then typically choose the best one.  Sometimes it is a choice between offer price, time to closing or the amount of contingencies in a contract.  Typically a buyer needs to put in their best offer. 

You should only consider a short sale if you are an extremely patient person.  A seller can say yes to an offer but the bank can take a month or so to respond.  Banks take their time, hoping for better offers to come in.  It could be that a submitted offer took two days for the seller to agree and two months for the bank to agree.  In some cases, it can be a 3-6 month process.  Calling the agents, the seller and/or the bank will not speed up the process.  You can get an amazing deal with a short sale, but only if you can wait it out. 

The bank will do their own appraisal of the property.  The asking price can actually go up, even though the seller has agreed to a price.  You will not know, if a deal will go through or not, all the way to the day of closing.   Again, patience is the only way to get one of these deals. 

To purchase a foreclosure or short sale, the banks require you to already be pre-approved with a lender or have a proof of funds letter. They will not even look at an offer without one. Many regular sellers are also requiring them now.  It is a good idea to be ahead of the game, so you do not miss out on any properties.   If you have a great relationship with a bank you should try them first. Here is our web page for a few local lenders.  Lenders Page

Click here for a list of log homes and cabin short sales to foreclosures for sale

 

Click here for a list of short sales to foreclosure residential homes for sale

 

Autumn and David's Real Estate Resume

Residential, Log Homes, Cabins to Commercial Properties

AREAS
Pigeon Forge, Sevierville, Douglas Lake, Kodak, Wears Valley, Dandridge, Cosby, Pittman Center, Chalet Village, Seymour and Gatlinburg TN.

CERTIFICATIONS
David is a real estate broker. He has the following certifications and Realtor designations; E-Pro (technology), RSPS (Resorts & Second Homes), ABR (Accredited Buyers' Representative), CDRS (Shorts Sales), TRC (Transnational Referral Certified.  SFR (NAR's Short Sales and Foreclosure Certification). David has also earned his CRS designation (Certified Residential Specialist - only around 4% of all agents ever achieve this designation).

 Real Estate Boards
Autumn and David are both members of the Great Smoky Mountain Association of Realtors. David is also a member of the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors MLS.

 Awards

2009 - We sold 31 properties - Realty Executives Gold Award 2010 - We sold 36 properties - Realty Executives Gold Award 2011 - We sold 41 properties - Realty Executives Gold Award 2012 - We sold 39 properties - Unfortunately, no award (Realty Executives shutdown due to a death in the company. Switched to Prime Mountain Properties)

 E & O Insurance
Rice Insurance Services Company, LLC

 Tennessee License Information
Autumn - Affiliate Broker #294430
David - Broker #283974

Business References
Smoky Mountain Title
(865) 908-9869

Town and Country Title
(865) 428-5252

Wells Fargo Mortgage - Lisa Romines
(865) 805-5472  

Many More....

Short Sale Experience

Countrywide

Bank of America

Wells Fargo

Navy Federal Credit Union

Bank United

CitiMortgage

Fannie Mae (foreclosures)

Freddie Mac (foreclosures)

Banks using Equator System

Many More....

 

Marketing strategy is high tech.  We are our own webmasters.

We Market and Sell Real estate!
(examples of how we market real estate)

 

News..........  David has achieved his CRS Realtor® designation.  Only around 4% of all agents ever achieve this designation.