Can I breathe after a Foreclosure sale of my home?
Far too often, homeowners think that they prefer a Foreclosure over a Short Sale when they are faced withfinancial troubles at home. Unfortunately, a homeowners troubles do not go away after foreclosure as so 
many mistakenly assume. Let me explain.
With a Short Sale, it’s always the goal for any Seller to be relieved of any responsibility in having to pay back any of the left over balance or deficiency balance. We will always strive for this to be clearly written in a Distressed Seller’s written Short Sale Approval letter. A great percentage of Lenders will issue this release and those Lenders who do not may simply reserve their right to pursue the deficiency. Let’s take a closer look at an example:
$350,000 is what you sell your home for with the Short Sale
$475,000 is your Mortgage balance prior to Short Sale
$125,000 is the Deficiency Balance or shortfall in covering your mortgage after closing on Short Sale. This is the dollar amount that you don’t want to have to worry about for years going forward. A Short Sale goal is to remove this financial responsibility.
Now what happens when you decide to let your home go into Foreclosure instead of a Short Sale? Far too many people are under the assumption that you don’t have to worry about the deficiency balance when your home is Foreclosed upon. Unfortunately, this is the wrong assumption. In a Foreclosure you are not applying any monies toward your mortgage balance like you do in a Short Sale therefore, the entire amount of your mortgage balance is a deficiency that your Lender can likely pursue with a deficiency judgement here in Florida. With the example used above your deficiency balance with a foreclosure would be your mortgage balance of $475,000 plus Attorney fees and costs.
So when you’re considering your options between a Short Sale and Foreclosure, make sure you’re looking at the whole picture and whether or not you want to lessen your potential financial liabilities and it’s ensuing stress.