If you are in a situation where you can no longer afford your monthly mortgage payments, you might be ready for a solution. You are lucky because, Toni Patillo, a Santa Monica short sale agent is here to explain the details of a short sale. In case you aren’t familiar with what a short sale is, it is a sale of a property for less than what the homeowner owes on it. A short sale could be an underwater home, apartment building or plot of land. It can occur whenever there is a balance on the mortgage that is greater than the market value of the home or property. Basically the sale comes up short so they gave it the name, short sale. As your Santa Monica short sale agent, Toni Patillo and her team will be ready to work with you to get you the best deal on your property. She will try and locate any seller incentives that are out there such as relocation assistance for homeowners who are short selling their home. As your Santa Monica short sale agent, Toni will help with all of the negotiations on your short sale transaction. Your Santa Monica short sale agent will find the best deal for your situation and give you all of the details. Sometimes the sale of a home can be enough to cover the first mortgage, but not the second. When this happens and one of the mortgages comes up short, it is considered a short sale. Something to remember is working with a Santa Monica short sale agent and going through the short sale process is a privilege, not a right. There are some properties that do not qualify for a short sale and the bank will not even consider it. Your Santa Monica short sale agent will explain all of this, but the bank must agree to the short sale or nothing goes forward. The bank will agree to the short sale if the bank feels it is in their best interest to approve the short sale. Usually banks will lose money on a foreclosure, so they are typically more apt to accept a short sale. No one wants to lose money in the deal.