Foreclosures and Short Sales

Oklahoma real estate markets have been a lot more protected compared with many other areas of the country, but there are still many more foreclosed properties in Oklahoma than there have been in recent years. With a cooling real estate market and with rising foreclosures comes opportunity for investors to pick up investment properties at bargain prices by making use of short sales.

Basically, a short sale is the bank or mortgage company settling for less than the actual mortgage balance owed to avoid having to foreclose on the property. Foreclosure is a moderately expensive proposition for the entity that holds the mortgage note, so they are motivated to discount what is owed on the property to avoid this. In general, in a depressed real estate market, the lender will be more likely to give a larger discount just to settle the deal. The original property owner is able to get out from under the mortgage and avoid having a foreclosure go on their credit report, the bank or mortgage company is able to avoid the cost of the foreclosure process and recoup a significant percentage of the original loan, and investors are able to get a bargain property.

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