We’re pleased to inform that we have just started our first in a a number of of many more to follow, resource pages for short sale sellers. Our first page targets Bank of America short sales and was designe to be the “end all be all” for Atlanta Short Sale clients. It took a lot to bring this large collection of information from contact information to timeline expectations. The Jarvis Team will to create a page like this one for each bank we currently work with. It’s critical to make a note that this information is uniquely for GA Home Owners, and may not be applicable to you and where you call home. Even though the Jarvis Team has long been one of the best short sale agents in the county, we really wanted to become “the source” for all the information as it pertains to short sales. There are so many agents and swindlers out there now, even more so than in the beginning, that want to take advantage of short sale sellers. A few even run ads on the radio and television. It’s essential for home owners to educate themselves and we’re making an effort not to sell them on us per se but rather educate them so they can make the very best choice.

Short Sale Certifications

If you are facing foreclosure no doubt you have considered a short sale as an option for to assist you. However, you may think there is some sort of short sale certifications to handle the short sale. The reality is that there isn’t. In fact, we heard on the radio that there was a Certified Short Sale Realtor touting a study at home, pay for badge kind of certification that would handle your short sale. Do you think this person is really qualified to handle your short sale? Sure you do need a short sale specialist but you might not need their 3 hours of expertise.

 
CDRS is the name of the certification of the agent mentioned in the video– to see the kind ofbad stuff that passes for certification do a search for CDRS on Google. That’s not all, but this agent claims to be the only broker in Georgia, while I found several with this certification. She’s the only one that paid extra for their marketing package. Short sales are not about listings, this makes me ill to think that home owners are losing their homes because they selected an agent that cared more about the listing than actually finishing the short sale.

How to spot a real short sale investor

Short Sale Investors call us all the time to make offers on our short sale listings. In this video and post we’ll go over what a REAL offer is and how to weed out the true investors interested in taking advantage of the low prices in the market and the “wannabes” who watched a late night webinar and bought a quick rich quick scheme. If the offer you get is a bonafide offer, it’ll contain the following:

Do I owe short sale taxes?

The issue of taxes on a short sale come up almost as much as what is a short sale. Short Sale taxes are to some extent intricate when compared to the normal real estate transaction.

First of all, if the home is the seller’s primary residence and they sell it via short sale then they are exempt from taxes on it under the Debt Forgiveness act of 2008 (was extended). So short sale taxes don’t really come into play in this instance. For investors or people who have moved on however, taxes could play a role.

However, as this real estate video shows, just because you received a 1099 doesn’t mean you owe taxes. In our situation, the investor bought a home for $100,000, put $20,000 down as a down payment. Sadly, he had to short sale the home for $50,000. He would probably get a 1099C for $30,000 (if he used the Jarvis Team). Many accountants would mention that the bill due to uncle sam for short sale taxes would be $30,000 times your tax rate.

Sometimes, a good accountant will see that the investor ALSO experienced a loss, which can offset these taxes. I’m not short sale accountant or attorney so be sure to observe the Short Sale Tax Video, but it sure looks like investors shouldn’t owe any short sale taxes let alone any taxes period. One thing that will throw off this conversation is previous depreciation taken on the home and home owners that did not buy as investments but have rental homes for example that they purchased through non-traditional financing such as 100% financing. Nevertheless, if you purchased your home for a higher value and sold it for less, there’s still a loss. For more answers consult with a CPA.

If you have other short sale questions comment below or call 770-406-6123. You can also learn more by watching our real estate videos.