How’s Your Short Game? – Interactive Fun from AAR

Test your short sale knowledge with this fun, golf-themed game. Prove you’re a pro as you answer true-false questions on the nine-hole short course. (Answer incorrectly and poor “Shorty” will pay the price.) Test your short (sale) game now!

ADRE

• UPDATE on the Short Sale Negotiator Regulations (February 15, 2011) (Pages 10 – 12)
• Short Sale… Negotiators and Other Questions (Pages 22 – 25)

Legal Hotline

•  Legal Hotline Q&A: Short Sales

Blog Posts

• View the Latest Short-Sale Posts on AAR’s Blog

Resources – AAR

• AAR Short Sale Addendum to Listing Contract
• AAR Short Sale Addendum to the Residential Resale Real Estate Purchase Contract
• rCRMS: Certified Risk Management Specialist Certification Program

Articles

• Mortgage Assistance Relief Services (“MARS”) Rule Requirements for Short Sale Brokers (March 2011)
• 10 Things They Didn’t Teach You in Short Sale School (August 2010)
• Short Sales: Measuring Up (June 2010)
• How to Get to “Yes” in a Short Sale (May 2010)
• Don’t Let Mold – or Other Defects – Poison Your Real Estate Career (May 2010)
• The Short Sale Seller Advisory – A New Resource for Distressed Homeowners by K. Michelle Lind (February 2010)
• Ethics in a Short Sale/REO Market (August 2009)
• Five Questions to Ask a Short Sale Seller (August 2009)
• Listen Up! (August 2009)

• Preforeclosure Sales Abuse
• NAR Asks Obama Administration to Urge Servicers to Participate in the Upcoming Short Sales Program
• FAQs on Short Sales & Commissions by K. Michelle Lind
• Coming Up Short – A New Rule…Aims for Calm When Lenders Cut Commissions (March 2009)
• Common Short Sale and Foreclosure Questions (March 2009)
• Short Sales 2009 by K. Michelle Lind (March 2009)
• Short Sale and “Regular” Sale — Are They Different? (March 2009)
• Short Sales, REOs and Foreclosures (March 2009)
• The Lender Response and the Close of Escrow (March 2009)
• Taking and Servicing the Short Sale Listing – A Typical Workflow (March 2009)
• You Have No Business Doing a Short Sale Unless… (March 2009)
• Short Sales – Revised Forms and Resources by K. Michelle Lind (August 2008)
• Short Sale Transactions by K. Michelle Lind (July 2007)

Resources General

• HAFA Program Overview (from the HAMP Administrative Website for Servicers) This webpage includes sample Word documents available for use by servicers to help establish the terms and conditions for a short sale and to facilitate communication once an offer on the property is received.
• Banks Face Short Sale Fraud as Home Flopping Rises (Bloomberg Businessweek – 06/10/10)

Resources – NAR

• REALTOR® Magazine – Watch for Legal Traps in Distressed Sales (May 2009)
• REALTOR® Magazine – Short Sales: 7 Legal Pitfalls (April 2009)
• RISMedia’s Top 5 in Real Estate Network® – The Pre-Foreclosure Decision: Top 10 Questions to Talk Over with Your Attorney
• REALTOR® Magazine Quiz: The Ins and Outs of Short Sales
• Field Guide to Short Sales
• Right Now Right Tools: Short Sales
• Fannie Mae Confirms Short Sales Commissions Policy and Establishes Appeals Process (June 2009)
  AEs: Are your members running into trouble collecting their agreed-to commission from lenders in a short sale transaction? Fannie Mae has made it clear that lenders aren’t to modify commissions after they’ve been agreed to by the seller and the sale associate. To help resolve cases in which lenders fail to honor commission agreements, Fannie Mae has agreed to guidelines for appealing lender commission actions.
• MLS Policy Recommendations (May 2009) (link to: ) During the 2009 Midyear Meetings of the National Association of REALTORS®, the NAR Board of Directors approved recommendations to the NAR model MLS Rules and Regulations (all types).
• Short Sale Workflow (June 2008)
  The short sale work flow is an educational tool intended to give brokers and sales associates a comprehensive overview of the short sale process (listing, marketing, negotiating and closing properties subject to a potential short sale).
• Short Sale Work Group Report (February 2008)
  The Short Sales Work Group was authorized because existing conditions are creating a large number of sales in which the value of the property may not be sufficient to meet all of the seller’s financial obligations.

Webinars

• Freddie Mac Short Sales Webinar
  Freddie Mac developed a webinar entitled “Introduction to Short Sales for the Real Estate Professional.” The program covers: Freddie Mac’s mission to homeowners; key statistics on delinquencies and workouts; understanding the real estate professional’s perspective on the current environment; retention and liquidation workout options; and the short sales process. This information will be extremely valuable for members who are relatively new to short sales. If you have any questions, please contact Jeff Lischer, 202-383-1117,jlischer@realtors.org.

“A short sale is a real estate transaction in which the sales price is insufficient to pay the liens encumbering the property and sale costs, but the seller is unable or unwilling to pay the difference.”

— Michelle Lind, AAR General Counsel