The cover letter is a very important piece of documentation to have included with your short sale package.  Loss mitigators have to sift through hundreds of short sale packages and other documents every day in order to find the best and quickest deals for their company, the bank.  As with everything else, a good cover letter can really make your short sale package stand out and look professional.   

What’s in the Cover Letter? 

The cover letter for your short sale package should include a brief summary of all the pertinent information included in your package.  Make sure you’ve spoken with the loss mitigator concerning what materials he or she wants to get from you, before you start putting together a short sale package.  Different banks have different needs.   

The loss mitigator should be able to quickly review the letter and know what property you want, who is on the mortgage, who you are, and why you think the short sale is a good deal for the bank.   

Organizing your cover letter so that the information is presented in a useful and easy to understand manner, makes it much easier for the loss mitigator to absorb what you’re offering after looking at dozens of other short sale packages.  Below are some examples of what the typical short sale cover letter should contain: 

·        Date: Always list the date at the top of your cover letters.  Simply put it: ‘January 10, 2008’ with the current date of course. 

·        Bank’s or Mortgage Company Address: It’s just standard to include the name and address of the company you are addressing, in case the package gets lost.  You may also put the name of the loss mitigator you are working with here.  For Example: 

USA Mortgage Servicing D.I.P. 

ATTN: Jon Doe
Loss Mitigation Department
Sent Via Fax:  866-444-7777 

·        Loan Account Number: Place this just under the Bank’s address with the tag ‘Loan Account Number’.  For example: 

Loan Account Number: 222202222     

·        Borrower’s Name: Be sure to include the name of the homeowner you are working with here and add the tag, ‘Borrower’s Name’ just to be safe. 

Borrower’s Name: John Doe  

·        Borrower’s Mailing Address: Then you’ll list the mailing address of the borrower underneath his or her name.  If it’s the same as the property you are making the short sale offer on, just list it once.  

·        Subject Property you are interested in: Underneath the mailing address you’ll list the address of the short sale property you are interested in.  Be sure to tag it as ‘Subject Property’.  For example: 

Subject Property:  415 Opus Drive. Bradenton, Florida 34203 

·        Body of Letter: Here you’ll start on the body of the cover letter.  In a short opening paragraph state that you are an investor interested in making a short sale on the subject property and are willing to work with the bank to make the transaction as quick and smooth as possible.  Remember, you’ve already spoken with the loss mitigator on the phone so there is no need for a very involved introduction. 

The body of your cover letter will also include the following items: 

List of Parties Involved in Short Sale: List the names and contact information of everyone involved in the deal from the title company to the Realtors.  For example: 

Seller's realtor:  name, phone, address, fax, website 

Buyer's realtor: name, phone, address, fax, website 

Title Company: name, phone, address, fax, website 

Buyer’s lender:  name, phone, address, fax, website 

List of Documents included in Short Sale Package: After this list the assembled documents in your short sale package, preferably in order.  No need to introduce the list, just tag it ‘List of Documents included in Package’. 

Reasons for Short Sale Offer: After you have the standard stuff out of the way you can begin summarizing why this short sale offer is good for the bank.  List major important points you came across in your research to assemble the short sale package.   

A big thing to mention is the hardship letter and the poor condition of the home.  Be sure to bring up those documents in your summary and tell the loss mitigator the homeowner just can’t afford to keep up the property payments.  Let the mitigator know why this is, whether from loss of a job or major medical expenses or another reason.  Plus, remind the loss mitigator that the homeowner hasn’t been able to maintain upkeep on the property as well.  It’s important to emphasize that:  

1.     The homeowner can’t sell the property (and can’t afford to wait). 

2.     The bank doesn’t want to own this house. 

Your Initial Offer Price: Be sure to list an initial very low ball short sale offer in the body of your cover letter.  The loss mitigator is likely to reject this first offer, but you never know, there is always the chance that you’ll get it too. Plus, it sets the basis for negotiations.   

Finish off your letter with a thank you and politely let the loss mitigator know that you look forward to speaking further with him or her concerning the short sale deal.  

·        Sign Off/Include Your Contact Information: Give your name and position if you have one in an investment company.  Also list your personal contact information, phone number, mailing address, website, etc.  

That’s all that you need for a standard, but useful cover letter for the loss mitigators.  To further accent your cover letter, you should consider creating a ‘logo’ or header for yourself and your real estate company to include at the top of the cover letter.  There is the impression that all professional and quality companies have their own logos, mottoes and business materials and so on.   

Add a Logo 

Creating and adding a simple real estate investment logo is easy, especially if you are familiar with Microsoft Word.  In fact, you can just use the standard ‘word art’ feature to turn the name of your company into a piece of art.   

You can also pay for a freelance designer to create a simple logo for as little as $50 on many job boards, like Elance.com.  This gives you a professional logo that you can add to any of your paperwork, including business cards forever. 

A good cover letter, including helpful information, is like the table of contents for the rest of your short sale package.  Make sure it looks concise, professional and is easy to understand and you’ll have those loss mitigators calling you back in no time.