Real estate lawsuits involve a number of possible legal causes of action, including breach of contract, specific performance, partition, breach of fiduciary duty, real estate fraud, quiet title and boundary disputes, among others. How do you know which causes of action are applicable to your real estate lawsuit and what do these different legal terms actually mean?
One of the most common causes of action in a real estate lawsuit, both in California and nationwide, is breach of contract. Oftentimes two parties will have either a written or oral agreement that governs their business dealings together. The contract can include a purchase and sale agreement, a lease, a partnership agreement, an option or any other agreement between one or more parties where each party has made promises to the other. In a breach of contract action the plaintiff must establish that it performed its side of the agreement (or was excused from doing so) but that the defendant did not. The plaintiff is entitled to recover any damages it suffered. This is probably the most common cause of action in real estate litigation.
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What is a Short Sale?
A Short Sale occurs when a Lender approves the sale of a property for less than the amount that is owed on a mortgage or mortgages. The name, Short Sale, comes from the fact that the Lender’s payoff is coming up “short”. In fact, the lender will also be paying the real estate commissions and other closings costs. The sellers in a short sale typically cannot receive any funds from the sale.
Lender Approval
A Lender must approve of the sale. This is accomplished by first sending a Short Sale Package to the Lender(s). Next, the file is assigned to a loan negotiator at the bank that reviews the Short Sale Package. At this point a negotiation will take place as the bank wants to get as much money as possible from the defaulted loan and the potential buyers want to spend as little as possible to purchase the property. During this process the bank will order a Brokers Price Opinion or an Appraisal. Once the bank agrees to accept a certain discount off the mortgage amount, Short Sale Approval Letters are furnished by the bank and a closing follows thereafter.
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