Arizona Short Sale Law

Many Arizonans pursue short sales without understanding all the legal implications that come along with selling your home for less than the amount owed on their outstanding mortgages. You should avoid falling victim to the advice of "experts" who have a financial interest in the sale of your home and seek the advice of an experienced real estate attorney to make sure that your short sale doesn't come back to haunt you. The lawyers at Harper Law have consulted with hundreds of Arizona homeowners about their short sales and work hard to keep up with the statutes and recent legal decisions that can directly impact your decision to short sell your home.

Consulting With An Arizona Short Sale Attorney

In many cases a consultation with an experienced lawyer can be enough to understand your rights and feel confident in your decision of whether to proceed with the short sale of your home. In a short sale legal consultation you can discuss the pros and cons of a short sale together with other alternatives such as a loan modification or foreclosure.

One of the primary considerations in any short sale are Arizona's anti-deficiency laws that apply to foreclosures and how those laws impact a short sale and short sale negotiations. Ultimately, most homeowners will want to pursue the option that ensures the bank will not be able to come after you following a short sale. We'll also discuss the potential tax consequences of a short sale, impact on credit, your obligations to the HOA, and other considerations such as property taxes and homeowners insurance.

Without A Short Sale Lawyer You May Have No One Else On Your Side

Unfortunately, many homeowners fail to understand that without having a short sale lawyer on their side they probably don't have anyone else involved in the process who is really on their side. While it should be evident that the lenders are not on your side, many homeowners don't hesitate to disclose private information and trust the documentation provided by the lender throughout the process. 

Many home sellers also place their complete trust in the Realtor handling their transactions. Although Realtors have an important place in the process and a good Realtor can be vital to getting a deal done as quickly and efficiently as possible, your Realtor cannot act as your attoney. In fact, a good Realtor will encourage you to seek legal counsel to review or negotiate contracts and to accurately advise you regarding your rights and responsibilities.

Making Sure That You're Not Responsible For A Deficiency

The primary goal of the seller in most short sales is to make sure there is no future responsibility for a deficiency. By its nature, a short sale involves a bank agreeing to take less in order to release its security interest in the home being sold, but lenders will seek to retain the ability to come after borrowers later whenever they can. Without a lawyer on your side you can't get an accurate legal opinion of the agreement offered by your lender(s) and understand whether the short sale should be completed over other options that might be avaiable.