Advice from professionals experienced in foreclosures may be the best pre-foreclosure financial assistance you can get.

Pre-foreclosure home-selling financial assistance is not typically available. However, there is help available from professionals experienced in pre-foreclosure sales.

Selling a home during the pre-foreclosure process is sometimes called a short sale. While financial assistance may not be available to you, talking to a real estate agent, a real estate lawyer and an accountant can make a difficult process much easier.

These three people will be able to tell you about pre-foreclosure laws in your state. They’ll look at your particular situation and help you decide if selling your home at the pre-foreclosure stage is the best thing to do.

You will need to find a real estate agent who has plenty of experience in pre-foreclosure. Pre-foreclosure sales can be extremely complicated deals that take months to complete. You'll want to make sure to work with agents who know exactly what they're doing. If agents say they are pre-foreclosure sale experts, ask for their proven track record – clients they've helped and deals that have resulted in successful sales.

Once you have a real estate agent who’s a pre-foreclosure specialist, find out how much your home is actually worth. Check out comparable properties in the area, or have an official estimate done by an independent property appraiser. If your asking price is too low, your lender may not approve the price. Your lender wants to recoup as much of its original investment as possible, so list your home as close to market value as possible.

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Additionally, it is not a bad idea to set your sales price a bit above market value when you first start out so your lender sees that you're serious about selling. Your real estate agent will be able to offer pre-foreclosure home sales assistance by suggesting a good starting price. Your agent will also help you put together a pre-foreclosure sale package once you get an offer.

Required documents include:

  • A hardship letter
  • Two years of tax returns and employment documents

If a document is missing, your bank may reject the offer.

The best financial assistance for selling homes in pre-foreclosure will be seasoned professionals. RealtyNow helps you find real estate agents experienced in pre-foreclosure and home values needed for your sale. To look at listings of pre-forclosed homes, enter a zip-code above.