Short sale deals increasingly requiring bank paybacks

With so many distressed homeowners owing more than their homes are worth, short sales have become life lines. These types of sales make up more than half of the homes on the market in Tampa Bay. Generally, this means the mortgage lender has agreed to allow the home to sell for market value. The lender writes off the rest of the debt, and the homeowner walks away. But is it really this simple? Lenders are increasingly adding language to the approval package, reserving the right to pursue the deficiency amount later, that is, the difference between what you owed on the house and what it sold for. Some homeowners, so anxious to get out of a pending foreclosure, skip right over that part of the letter. Some understand, but opt to take their chances, betting they won't hear from the lender again.

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