Selling Short: Avoiding Foreclosure the Hard Way
Although it's not common in the Greater Cleveland area, short selling is often resorted to when home values fall and homeowners find themselves owing more than their property is worth.
Avoiding foreclosure is a good thing, right? The mortgage-holders save money; the homeowner saves face and maybe even some credit rating points; and the neighborhood escapes the stigma that foreclosure brings. The Obama administration has even encouraged lenders to avoid foreclosing on financially distressed homeowners by allowing short sales – meaning the lender accepts less for a property than the borrower owes. Lenders haven’t exactly jumped in with both feet, as the numbers show. From July through September 2011, foreclosures in Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Ashtabula, Geauga and Summit counties outnumbered short sales about 24 to 1. There were 478 short sales during that period, compared to 11,744 auctions, according to the Northern…
