Many homeowners are avoiding foreclosure in the Santa Clarita Valley by trying to short sale their home. There are currently 186 active Santa Clarita short sales on the market ranging in price from $72,000 to $1,999,000. With the number of short sales in the Santa Clarita real estate market continuing to grow, many buyers and sellers are asking a very important question. What is a short sale?

A short sale is a sale of real estate in which the proceeds from the sale do not cover the balance owed on a loan or loans on a property. Lenders accept a discounted payoff on the loan and allow the sale to close escrow. The lender will agree to discount the loan due to an economic hardship on the part of the mortgagor, and the homeowner will sell the mortgaged property for less than the outstanding balance of the loan, turn over the proceeds to the lender, most often in full satisfaction of the debt. A short sale is accomplished through negotiation with a bank's loss mitigation or workout department on the part of the real estate professional, but the lender has the right to approve or disapprove any proposed sale. Main factors contributing to the lender's decision are the borrower's financial situation and the current state of the real estate market.

A short sale, in short is a lender taking a loss to avoid larger costs. It is neither the lender doing the homeowner a favor nor an easy way out for the homeowner, but a process enabled by a real estate professional and homeowner when they are committed to avoiding foreclosure.