West Palm Beach Real Estate News

Florida Homeowners to receive up to $20,000 to short sale their home.

By: Gabriel Diaz,GRI- REALTOR /Real Estate Broker-Home Options Group

Bank of America has launched a new program for homeowners facing foreclosure, to place their homes for sale as a short sale. To qualify the property must submitted for approval by November 30^th and the sale must close by August 21, 2012.

The Bank of America plan has a minimum payout amount of $5,000 to a maximum of $20,000 and is designed to help struggling homeowners to avoid a long and strenuous foreclosure process. This program will also benefit Bank of America as currently the average time it takes a bank to foreclose on a homeowner is 676 days which is more than twice the national average. Homeowners represented by attorneys can actually wait 3-4 years for the foreclosure process to take its course.

Some of the banks have already offered similar programs called “cash for keys” but typically these exchanges happen after the foreclosure process. Bank of America’s deal will actually provide the added benefit of not being foreclosed on which is a public record that can stay on your credit report for up to ten years and exclude you from major credit purchases for four years or more.