Lenders have initiated more than 500,000 short sales on Equator's short sale platform in the past year, the company reported today.
Equator said it has seen "substantial growth" in its short sale operations, including a platform built specifically for the government's Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program, which launched in April 2010, to provide incentives to servicers for short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure.
Equator reported on initiated short sales, meaning not all deals have closed. Short sales are a long and tedious process, as borrowers, servicers, lenders, and investors must all agree on the terms of sale.
The delays and inefficiencies in the short sale process are a continuing complain by all parties involved and often end in foreclosure.
Congressional Oversight Panel (COP) data suggested lenders are moving most of their short sales out of the government’s HAFA program and into their own programs. According to COP, the Treasury Department has spent only $4.3 million on the HAFA program, which calculates out to only 661 closed transactions nationally in the past eight months.
Equator Chief Operating Officer John Vella said lenders have initiated 140,000 HAFA short sales, with more than one-third of them coming in the fourth quarter of 2010.
"Our Short Sale and HAFA Workstations continue to provide servicers with a viable foreclosure alternative by generating faster responses and decisions, thereby offering impressive cost savings," Vella said.
If this is the case, 2011 may become the year of the short sale, reducing foreclosures and normalizing the real estate market.
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