The main reason that most homeowners choose to do a short sale is because they have a hardship of some type. Whether it’s a legitimate hardship or not can be determined by a short sale realtor, however, it is the number one reason why a home is sold via short sale. When a homeowner would like to short sale their property they are required to submit a short sale package with various financial documents to their lender via a short sale realtor.

When submitting the short sale package, a hardship letter is required by the lender to provide sufficient reason as to why the borrower is requesting to short sale their property. The hardship letter is one of the most important documents in the short sale package; in fact, some lenders that are using quicker short sale processes, such as Bank of America’s Fast Track Program, are only requiring hardship letters instead of other financial documents. The hardship letter gives the homeowner the opportunity to explain to their mortgage company what has occurred to cause them to become underwater on the property or fall behind on their payments.

One of the other important pieces included in the short sale package is the financial analysis sheet. This sheet outlines your total income and expenditures for an entire month; it shows the lender how much money you are either making or losing and will further back-up the reason you are requesting a short sale.

There are other documents that are often requested, such as federal tax returns and paystubs. There are also lender-specific forms, although not all lenders use these. If you would like assistance in determining if you have a legitimate hardship, writing a hardship letter or compiling a financial analysis sheet, there are many short sale realtors in the Denver area that can help you with all of your needs.