You’d have to get a payoff figure from the lender or its attorneys. That will give you the most updated information on how much the current homeowners owe to satisfy the mortgage. There are a few other ways to get an idea about how much is owed, but they won’t be as accurate.

One way to get an estimate is to search the public records in the county in which the property is located. Usually, the history of the mortgages/deeds of trust will be available online (or you can just call the county and find out), which will tell you when the homeowners got each mortgage and how much it was originally for.

Searching the title will also give you a good idea if there are more liens than just the first mortgage. The bank may be willing to take less on a short sale, but if you have to come up with more money to pay property taxes, and more to pay off a second mortgage, and more to pay IRS liens, and more to pay utilities liens, then you will not end up with a very good deal. Of course, you could negotiate down these liens as well, but that’s more time spent dealing with lenders.

In any event, if the bank is willing to accept a short sale, that means the homeowners are still living in the house and it has not been sold at the public auction yet. Why not ask the current owners to request a payoff from the mortgage company? They can give you a copy and you’ll have the information you need to make an offer.

Hope that helps.
ForeclosureFish

To get the actual figures of how much is owed you will need to contact the lender. First you must get an authorization from the seller to allow the bank to release their information to you. Without this authorization the bank won’t talk to you at all.

If there is a real estate agent involved they may already have the authorization. Then they can ask the bank for the details.

Public records will have the original loan amount, but you have no way of telling how much of the principal has been paid down, and you also have to find out how much is past due and how much in late fees.

Where I live the lender will publish the past due amount including penalties when they file the notice of default.

You can also go by documentation the bank sent to the homeowner if they have it, but it may be out of date.

Without the cooperation of the seller you won’t be able to get much because of privacy laws.

No. That information is confidential between the mortgage holder and the borrower. They are not allowed to disclose this information to you under privacy laws. Furthermore, the amount owed on the property is rather irrelevant to the value of the offer you make. Your offer price should be guided by current real estate sales prices of similar properties.

You wouldnt believe how many homes in USA are going short sell ………..there’s over 9 million homes in trouble
because of subprime loans……

The best is fixed rate , this way your payment is the same.

You have to find out wich creidit institution has the lease hold, and give them a call.

You must go to the city hall and ask for the forclosure book. The banks usually won’t let a house go for a loss but would accept the debt plus one dollar. Contact the bank when you find out who owns the mortgage and make a cash offer.

Ask the bank where the mortgage is.