'Short sales' offer way out

HACKENSACK, N.J. — The case was severe, but the storyline as told by real estate agent Karim Dawli is all too common in some areas: A bus driver with a modest income got a mortgage three years ago to buy a $420,000 house.

Today, with payments on her adjustable loan soaring, she is months behind on her mortgage, facing possible foreclosure and desperate for a solution. Dawli is working with her to arrange a deal that may bring in a far lower price than she paid but get her out from under her mortgage, he said.

"This case is extreme," said Dawli, an agent with Re/Max Properties in Tenafly, N.J. "It was definitely a house she could not afford from the get-go." But, he said, "there are a lot of cases out there like that."

For Dawli, they represent a sign not only of trouble in the housing market, but also of opportunity.

He is among real estate salespeople looking to use a surge in the number of homeowners in financial peril as a way to boost business in a slow market and help people escape crushing debt. With home sales dropping, some agents are shifting at least part of their efforts to sales of distressed properties.

Among others doing the same thing is Nick Tselepis, a Clifton, N.J., broker who plans to start a business next month devoted solely to homes in some stage of foreclosure.

"It's something you have to do," said Tselepis, who owns Nicholas Real Estate Agency. "We are trying to take a lemon and make it lemonade."

Dawli and Tselepis have turned to what are known as "short sales" to augment traditional transactions. Under these deals, owners facing foreclosure sell their homes for less than what they owe on their mortgages, with differences sometimes topping $100,000. Lenders accept the proceeds and forgive the rest of the mortgage.

Such sales allow lenders to avoid the foreclosure process, which can take months, and the need to maintain and pay taxes on homes until they are resold. Brokers get a sales commission and owners walk away without a foreclosure on their record or mortgage debt. Neighborhoods also avert the stigma of homes sitting vacant and further depressing values, agents said.

While Dawli now focuses on short sales, Tselepis took things a step further, starting a three-person business to handle those transactions. It made sense, he said, because foreclosure listings were overwhelming some of his agents. Short sales can take months of negotiation and paperwork between buyers, sellers and lenders, he said.

"I feel I'm offering a solution," he said.

Eventually, Dawli and other agents say, business will return to normal. But they don't predict when.