Does Seller Have To Occupy The Property
Does the Seller have to occupy the property in order for the lender to consider a short sale?
This Seller wants to go ahead & move into a rental property. As far as I know, it's just a conventional loan, not FHA or VA. Not sure yet if there's PMI
In general, Owner Occupancy is an FHA/VA criteria. Each lender and/or investor who owns the mortgage has it's own criteria for short sale consideration.
If the house is vacant this will give you another negotiating tool to take advantage of. Remember, focus on the hardship when doing short sales. Don't get involved in a numbers game with the bank. You can always use a non occupied house in your hardship.
Are you suggesting that in a numbers game the bank will always win?
No, I'm saying that if all you have are numbers and you don't use things like the hardship to help you negotiate then you are leaving a great negotiating tool on the table.
Thanks for the clarification
I agree. Of course the more tools, the better.