Profiles in Tenacity: Short-Sale Buyers
Eduardo Lopes and Laurel Wittman bought a five-bedroom house near Falls Church in a short sale. It took months of patience and determination.
(By Susan Biddle -- The Washington Post)
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Laurel Wittman and her husband, Eduardo Lopes, are examples of a rare species: successful short-sale buyers.
The unfortunate trio of nothing-down mortgages, sharp increases in adjustable-rate payments and shrinking home values has driven more strapped owners to ask their lenders to approve short sales as an alternative to foreclosure. The sales price is short of the amount owed to the lender, but lenders will sometimes accept such deals because foreclosures cost them even more money.
It's not an easy way to buy a house.
Wittman and Lopes endured a five-month wait to buy a five-bedroom Fairfax County house that was headed for foreclosure. They offered to pay the full asking price, aware that their offer would have to be approved by the seller's lender.
They didn't expect to be the only ones interested in making the deal.
Months went by with no response from the lender, SunTrust Mortgage. At times, the couple wondered if the deal was worth the hassle.
But persistence won them a nice house with a garage for $510,000, which was $90,000 less than its recent appraised value and nearly $117,000 less than the latest tax assessment. If you believe that time is money, though, they paid plenty. "If you had any urgency, you couldn't have done this," Wittman said. "It was all about just trying to get anyone to respond."
The couple wanted to move from their house in Dale City to be closer to Wittman's job in Alexandria. They planned to rent out the Dale City house, which allowed them a more flexible schedule than if they had to coordinate a sale and a purchase.
The Dutch Colonial they found sits smack against Interstate 66 near Falls Church.
The house has several features that made it a good choice for Lopes, who has used a wheelchair since 2005 because of multiple sclerosis. There's a main-level bedroom and bathroom, plus an updated kitchen with plenty of maneuvering room. It can easily accommodate a ramp to the front porch and a chair lift to the back door.
The home went on the market last May at $575,000, which was out of the couple's price range. By September, the asking price was down to $550,000, still more than they could afford. On Sept. 19, the asking price dropped to $499,950.
Until then, Lopes hadn't wanted to get involved with the hassle of trying to buy anything at a short sale, but that price cut changed his mind. "Suddenly, it was inside our price range, and it was a lot of house," Lopes said. "It became worth our time."
