Hunter’s Green Short Sales in New Tampa – For Sellers

Hunter’s Green is experiencing fewer short sales that other New Tampa Communities such as Cory Lake Isles, Heritage Isles, Live Oak Preserve, and Grand Hampton.  The main reason for this is because the community of Hunter’s Green was already almost fully developed prior to the real estate boom.  There were still quite a few sales in Hunter’s Green between 2005 and 2007, but not like the other communities where almost ALL of the sales took place during that period.  Still, many people in Hunter’s Green refinanced their homes or took out home equity loans and those that did are probably in a situation now where they have little or no equity and could not sell their home for what they owe. 

I’ve completed several successful short sales in Hunter’s Green and one of the problems that arose in each case was an HOA lien.  Hunter’s Green doesn’t have a CDD, but the community does have a significant HOA fee.  On short sales that have a CDD, the fee is lumped in with the taxes and when it goes to the lender for short sale approval, the lender rarely questions it.  But with an HOA it’s a different story.  Home Owners Associations, like the one in Hunter’s Green, can and do put liens on the home for unpaid fees as well as any fines and attorney’s fees.  On one short sale I did in Hunter’s Green, the homeowner was behind on their HOA dues by about $2500, but the homeowner didn’t have the means to properly maintain the home and lot to the strict standards of the HOA and they received fines for things such as not pressure washing their roof, not trimming their trees,  not having enough mulch in the plant beds, and parking in their driveway (in Hunter’s Green you are NOT allowed to park in the driveway, your car must be parked inside the garage and the garage door must be closed).  Each of these instances and/or HOA violations came with a fine and together with late fees and attorney’s fees, the total lien on the home was almost $20,000!  The homeowner had tried for months to negotiate these charges with the HOA board, but the board was not willing to reduce the fees for the homeowner.  With the short sale though, the board was willing to reduce the fees to about 25% ($5,000) to release the lien.  The Seller’s lender agreed to pay these back fees because they had to be taken care of for the title to convey to the new owner and the current homeowner did not have the means to pay them.

I still run into people who think that if they do a short sale they will have to come to closing with a check, but this is simply not true!  I was in Hunter’s Green just this last weekend talking to a homeowner who was going through a divorce and needing to sell her house.  When I asked her if she needed to do a short sale, she said her mortgage was about $240,000 and her home was worth about $180,000, but she didn’t have enough money to pay a Realtor so she was going to try to sell the home herself.  With a short sale, the homeowner DOES NOT PAY the Realtor, rarely pays for any liens attached to the property, does not pay for past due taxes, and sometimes they even get a nominal amount back from the lender to facilitate moving!!

If you think you might be in a position to short sale your home in Hunter’s Green and have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at 813.454.7532 or Loree@welovetampa.com