So his perspective may be a bit…. slanted… towards seeing foreclosure as the best solution.

His toolbox has that one tool and that one tool is the one that pays.

Seller motivation to short: to move on with a bit more dignity/on more of your own terms, be more responsible, but the biggest benefit is for those that want (possible) less damage to their overall credit. Most importantly, not being subjected to the 5yr “penalty box” for a new loan if one has a foreclosure on their credit.

For example, if one knows what they are doing in short sale negotiations, the seller may have dinged credit but at least they are not automatically excluded to getting another home loan.

And, after all, “it’s a great time to buy.”

We may also negotiate a “paid as agreed” entry on the loan obligation in the credit file. Deficiencies can be effectively negotiated and, of course, there is no debt-forgiveness IRS exposure through 2012 (then the world ends cuz, y’know, that whole Mayan calendar thing).

If short sales are done correctly, they can actually be a “win” over just squatting until the sheriff arrives. That free rent turns out to be not-so-free.

But therein lies the rub, most agents don’t know what the hell they’re doing in a short sale. Looking at the data, it seems only about 15-25% of listed short sales are successful. So Sean unleashing the hoard of 1.2 million Realtors(r) is too scary a fate to imagine: Night of the Living Realtors (most of whom are bumbling and clueless – like zombies).

Think of it as recycling the housing stock and owners. Now, some would argue that why do all this shuffling? Why not let folks stay in their current homes and do a big (principal reduction) loan mod?

From my point of view: a penalty. Let these over-extended “owners” feel a little pain. Take some responsibility for their actions. Participating in unwinding their bad debt and the hassle of moving is at least some punishment for their (often) irresponsible borrowing. The whole “innocent homeowner” meme is way tired and inaccurate more often than not. I was on the frontlines during this whole credit bubble run-up. If you tried to warn people, they just blew you off and danced down the street to the next person who would whisper credit sweet-nothings in their ear. Most of the stated income loans were FRAUDS. And for homeowners to say they were duped, etc is garbage. Excuse me, is this your signature on the 1003? You either signed it knowing it had fraudulent data on it or you signed something without reading it. Either way is no excuse.

But, yeah, all these contortions just to kick the can down the road the bit is immature, irresponsible, and self-defeating.

So, I’m back to the trenches, doing what I do: unwinding one homeowner at a time as many times as I can effectively do it.

If as you point out the homeowner has given up and is simply taking advantage of free rent, then lets find that out and give them a simple choice: participate in a reasonable loan mod or shortsale, or face immediate foreclosure. Period.

I think, as I believe you do, the cost of delaying this is far too high and that it is time to get things moving.

Collecting info is a good start but then what? Trying to reach owners who don’t want to be contacted is time consuming and unproductive – a job that won’t be pursued for long. Sending information, applications, offers to under staffed and unqualified bank employees is ineffective. No question that an steamlined process needs to be created. But who is going to find a program that most lenders will agree to follow?

Short Sales: Why sell short when you can live in the house for free for many months? What’s the motivation to the seller?

Loan Mods: How do you make a loan affordable to someone who will never afford the loan or who DOESN’T want to afford it? Reducing the principal in large chunks appears to be the only solution – another bailout?

Sean, your past comments are right on target – we have people in homes who will never afford them, who don’t want to make payments on debt that is double the value of the asset, who have given up trying to communicate.

Aren’t all of these efforts simply delaying the inevitable? And, at what cost to all of us?

In my opinion, if the banks would be more cooperative all of this could be over more quickly.

For some owners a loan mod is the best bet, yet servicers claim the number one problem is getting complete packages from homeowners. Why not pay Realtors to help homeowners gather and submit that. Makes more sense to me then paying servicers as the current HAMP program does.

If the owner doesn’t qualify for a mod, or they simply need to sell, lets put in place short sale programs with clear guidelines and timeframes.

And if the home is abandoned or is in a state of disrepair that keeps it from being sellable, lets put a local Realtor on cleaning it up and selling it (something REO Brokers do already on foreclosed homes).

That’s just a start, but hopefully conveys the idea.

One question … it seems you’re saying, “we have all these bullets, but need something to shoot …”

To what end would you mobilize the troops? Why depend on the “generals” in Washington who have proven their incompetence?