E for Effort

One thing that a lender will look for when determining a short sale or workout option is the effort of the borrower to avoid the situation.

I recently had a realtor contact me to say that she could not get the lender to agree to a workout option. The lender told the realtor that her client had not made a legitimate effort to avoid her situation. The realtor told me that her client had made every effort possible. After some more digging on my part, I found out the reason for the preforeclosure was the client had not made any money in a few months. The client was involved in a commission only job where the commissions were high but infrequent and the client had not made a sale in 6 months. When I asked the realtor what other avenues had been taken to bring in income, she said that the client had a job (the commission only) and was not looking for part time work.

The above story is a combination of ego and laziness. The lender tells you what to do and the better impression you make, the better. If you have a job that is commission only and you haven't made the sale, use every effort possible to make some type of money. If that means flipping burgers, then do it to show that you are making an effort to remedy the situation. If the lender feels you don't make the effort, then the possibility of the workout diminishes.