The importance of obtaining (and providing) inspections and disclosures IN ADVANCE on short sales....

Short sale sellers take note! It is of critical importance to obtain a pest inspection and fill out all of your disclosures in advance of putting your house on the market and entertaining offers from interested buyers.

Sometimes short sale sellers will object to getting a pest inspection in advance because of the $85 - $100 inspection fee, but once I explain the downside of not getting this inspection, they quickly change their minds.

Because short sales are 99% of the time sold "as-is" with no repairs of any kind, it is critically important to provide the buyer with as many disclosures and inspection reports on the front side of the process.

Why? The last thing anyone wants is --AFTER the short sale is approved-- to get a pest inspection and find a termite infestation...or to go through the disclosure process, only to realize that a grandma died in her sleep at the property 2 years ago. Unfortunately, with no net $ proceeds from the sale, there are no resources to fix these issues. These can be deal breakers!

As the seller, you want to make sure that interested buyers know this information in advance. You allow the buyer to make an informed decision regarding the purchase of your property up front. If there is a pest issue, for example, the buyer knows in advance and can decide at that time if it is worth it to them to purchase the property "as-is" and do the repairs on their own at a later time. If a pest issue is discovered after the short sale is approved by the lender, depending on the magnitude of the damage / bid price for repairs, the buyer may decide to walk away from the transaction.

The same applies to disclosures. If there is anything a buyer may deem objectionable (and each buyer has a different definition of what objectionable is), it is best they know this information in advance.

Once a lender approves a short sale, the lender wants that escrow to close...and as the seller, so do you!!