Have you heard that property owners that are in distress could possibly short sale their home and lease it back from the investors that purchased it for 3 years? Well here it is! Yesenia Ruvalcaba is one of the few Realtors in California actually CERTIFIED for this new Short Sale Lease Back Program. Don’t trust your family’s home to someone who thinks they kinda have an idea what they are doing, take some time to read this featured article that explains a few key points about this new solution for struggling homeowners. Remember, foreclosure should not be an option. Wouldn’t it be great if you could stop the headaches and anxiety over loosing your home with one quick phone call?  Call Yesenia at (626) 252-0839 for a quick 15-20 minute explanation of how this Short Sale Lease Back Program works and see if this might be the right option for YOU.

Short sales are quickly becoming a popular alternative to foreclosure, even outpacing REO sales in certain states, according to data from RealtyTrac.

While short sales have become a more common home forfeiture solution, an individual in California has been working on a program to turn short sales into a solution for homeowners who want to remain in their home, but as renters instead of owners.

In 2011, Treasury released a directive amending the “arm’s length” rule for short sales completed through the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program. Rather than requiring all short sales to be arm’s length transactions, an exception was made.

The directive, which took effect June 2011, gave servicers the freedom to approve a short sale that is not an arm’s length transaction if the sale is for a nonprofit and if the property is to be rented or resold to the borrower. In addition, the sale would have to meet all HAFA program requirements.

When Bob Irish, a broker based out of Riverside, California and owner of Lake Hills Realty, learned of Treasury’s change, he was inspired to create a program based on the new guidance.

Irish now runs a company called National Short Sales, which offers what is known as a Short Sale Lease-Back(SSLB) program.

Through the program, struggling homeowners can remain in their home as a tenant after the property is sold via short sale to a nonprofit. In the case of Irish’s program, former homeowners reside in the home for at least three years as renters, and they must take six financial counseling courses over the three years. The classes are free and offered through the nonprofit his company works with, HomeStrong USA.

Irish explained the three year rule was implemented based on the approximate time it might take for a former homeowner to build his credit again and become eligible for an FHA-insured loan after going through a short sale.

While the idea of the program was based on HAFAguidelines, the option is available to everyone, as along as the lender agrees to the program. Irish says his company has received both HAFA and non-HAFA approval.

According to the company’s Facebook page, Bank of America has approved its first SSLB program, and Irish says Well Fargo has agreed to the program for its portfolio loans.

In addition to helping struggling homeowners, National Short Sales also offers classes for real estate agents interested in learning the program and receiving SSLBcertification. Irish said they first started offering classes in September 2012, and since then have trained over 200 agents.

While Irish says he is not aware of other programs out there that are offering what his company is, he was quick to emphasize homeowners shouldn’t be asked to pay upfront fees if they are trying to pursue a short sale with a lease back option.

Article written by Esther Cho, DSNews.com