How Recourse Works

A short sale in Florida involves more steps than most homeowners realize when they first start exploring it. The work happens across several months and several parties — you, your lender, a buyer, your county's court (if foreclosure has been filed), and us. This page walks through how it works at Recourse specifically.

The short version: you start by entering your address, we open a private portal that lets you see your situation and manage the work in one place, we handle the lender side and the listing side, and our work is paid by your lender at closing. You pay nothing out of pocket.

The longer version follows.

Step 1: You enter your property address

Everything starts with your address. Florida public records contain a substantial amount of information about every property and every foreclosure case — who owns the property, what mortgages have been recorded, whether a foreclosure case has been filed, what stage that case is in, when the next procedural milestone is likely.

When you enter your address on this site, we run that data and show you what we find. Specifically, we look up:

• The recorded owner of the property
• The original loan amount and origination year (from the recorded mortgage)
• The current mortgage servicer (using MERS ServicerID, the industry's servicer identification system)
• Whether a lis pendens has been recorded against the property (the public notice that a foreclosure lawsuit has been filed)
• Where any active foreclosure case stands in the court's docket
• Whether a sale date has been scheduled
• The typical Florida foreclosure timeline for your county

You see all of this within seconds. No form to fill out, no consultation to schedule, no email required to see your situation summary. The point is to give you accurate information about your case quickly, so you can think about it clearly.

If you want to go further from there, you provide your email and we open a private portal for your situation. That's optional. You can also just read the summary and leave — we don't follow up unless you ask.

Step 2: We open a private portal for your situation

If you create an account, we open a private portal where everything related to your case lives in one place. The portal contains four main areas:

Your situation. A persistent view of where your case stands. If there's an active foreclosure case, you see what stage it's in and what comes next. The timeline updates automatically as your case progresses through the court's docket.

Your checklist. A live list of what needs to happen next. Some items are yours to do (sign the authorization, upload tax returns, complete the hardship statement). Some items are ours to do (submit the lender package, respond to the lender's information requests, coordinate the BPO). You see both, with clear ownership. Items get checked off as completed.

Your documents. A single secure place for everything related to your case — the third-party authorization, your financial documentation, your hardship letter, the listing agreement, eventually the buyer's contract and the lender's approval letter. Documents are uploaded once and stored centrally. The system classifies what you upload automatically; you don't have to label files yourself.

Your communications. A chronological feed of everything that happens on the file. Updates from us. Documents we've submitted to your lender. Responses we've received. Court docket changes when they affect your case. Each update goes to your email too, so you don't have to log in to know something happened.

The portal is yours. You can come back to it any time. You can leave it sitting and come back weeks later. Your data is private and only you and the Recourse operational team see what's there.

Step 3: We generate your third-party authorization

The third-party authorization (TPA) is the document that lets us communicate with your lender on your behalf. Without it, your lender will not speak with anyone but you. The TPA is what unlocks the rest of the process.

Different lenders accept different TPA forms. Some have their own proprietary forms they require; others accept generic third-party authorizations. The portal generates the right form for your specific lender automatically — we know which lender requires which form because we maintain that knowledge as part of our practice.

The TPA is signed electronically through DocuSign or an equivalent e-signature service. You don't print or mail anything. The signature takes a few minutes from any device. Once signed, the executed TPA is filed with the lender and we can begin contacting them about your case.

For most lenders, the TPA is the first item on your checklist after account creation. The rest of the document gathering can proceed in parallel; the TPA being executed quickly is what lets us start the lender side of the work immediately.

Step 4: You gather your hardship documentation

Lenders need to evaluate your situation to approve a short sale. They want to verify that the hardship is real and that you can't afford to continue the mortgage. This means documenting your financial situation.

A typical short sale package requires:

• Two years of federal tax returns (or transcripts from the IRS if returns aren't available)
• Two months of bank statements for every account
• Recent pay stubs (or profit-and-loss statements if you're self-employed)
• A hardship letter — a short written statement explaining what changed in your financial situation that led to your inability to continue paying
• A current mortgage statement
• A property tax statement
• An HOA statement, if your property has HOA dues
• A monthly budget showing income and expenses
• A list of your assets and liabilities

Some lenders require additional items — divorce decrees in divorce-related hardships, medical bills for medical hardships, employment termination letters for job loss. The portal's checklist adapts to your specific situation.

Most homeowners gather these documents over a week or two. Some come together quickly; others (tax returns, particularly for prior years) sometimes take longer. The portal supports rolling uploads — you don't have to gather everything at once before submitting.

The hardship letter is the document homeowners struggle with most because it requires articulating something painful in formal language. The portal includes an AI-assisted drafting tool: you have a conversational intake about your situation, and the tool produces a draft hardship letter you can edit. The draft is yours to revise; we never submit a hardship letter without your review and approval.

Step 5: We list your home for sale

A short sale isn't really a short sale until your home is on the market. Most lenders require the property to be listed publicly — typically with at least a brief listing period before they'll consider offers — because they want assurance that the offer being submitted reflects fair market value.

We list your home through the MLS that covers your property's location. If we don't already have membership in that MLS, we join it. Our parent brokerage, Blue Mar Real Estate Group, Inc., handles MLS administration so listings don't wait on paperwork.

The listing is real. Standard photography, accurate property description, MLS distribution, syndication to public listing sites. The home is genuinely for sale, at a price calibrated to current market conditions and likely to attract serious offers.

What's different from a traditional listing is the language. The listing is marked as a short sale, which tells prospective buyers and their agents that the sale is subject to lender approval and will take longer than a typical transaction. Buyers who pursue short sale properties understand this; we don't try to hide that the sale requires lender approval.

For showings and in-person tasks, we work with local agents in your market. Photography, lockbox installation, occasional in-person buyer showings, signage — all handled locally. You don't experience the listing as remote.

Step 6: We submit your package to your lender

Once you have a buyer's offer, the lender package is assembled. This includes:

• The listing agreement
• The buyer's signed offer
• The buyer's proof of funds or pre-approval
• Your hardship letter
• Your financial documentation
• The TPA
• Property documentation
• The MLS listing history showing the property was actually marketed
• Any lender-specific forms required

The complete package is typically several hundred pages. We assemble it carefully — incomplete packages get delayed or rejected, so getting it right the first time matters. The package is submitted through the lender's preferred channel: most major servicers use the Equator platform; some use proprietary portals; some still accept submissions by fax or email.

Submission is the beginning of the lender's review, not the end of the work. We track the file actively after submission — checking platform status, following up at appropriate intervals, responding to information requests, supporting the BPO process. Files without active follow-up sit in the lender's queue; files with active follow-up move.

Step 7: The lender reviews your situation

The lender's loss mitigation team evaluates your case. They review your hardship documentation, verify your financial situation, evaluate the property, run a Broker Price Opinion (BPO) or appraisal to determine current market value, and decide whether to approve the short sale.

This stage is where most of the elapsed time happens. Typical lender review takes thirty to ninety days from complete package submission, sometimes longer. The variation depends on the lender, the investor program, the complexity of the case, and how aligned the BPO comes in with the offered price.

If the BPO comes in close to the offered price, the review tends to move forward. If there's a gap, we challenge the BPO — typically by providing comparable sales data that supports the offered price. BPO challenges are part of the work and we handle them as part of the standard process.

During this stage, your lender may also evaluate whether you might qualify for a loan modification instead. If they determine that modification works better for your situation, they may offer it. If you accept the modification, you keep your home and our work on your file ends. We're not paid when a modification happens.

Step 8: The lender approves (or counters)

When the lender's review is complete, you receive a response. There are three typical outcomes:

Approval. The lender agrees to the short sale at the offered price, with specific terms. The approval letter specifies the approved sale price, the closing timeline, the lender's payoff amount, and any conditions. Critically, the approval letter should state whether deficiency is waived (and most short sale approvals in Florida do waive deficiency, but this needs to be in writing).

Counter. The lender approves the short sale at a different price than offered, or with conditions different from those proposed. The counter is negotiable. Sometimes the buyer agrees to the counter; sometimes negotiation continues; sometimes the buyer walks away and we have to find a new buyer at the lender's counter price.

Denial. The lender determines that short sale doesn't work — usually because of valuation gap, investor restrictions, or determination that modification is more appropriate. Denials can sometimes be appealed or addressed by resubmitting with adjusted information; sometimes they signal that the situation requires a different resolution path entirely (modification, foreclosure defense, bankruptcy, deed in lieu).

If the lender approves and the buyer accepts the terms, the file moves to closing.

Step 9: Closing

The short sale closes like a standard real estate transaction with a few specific elements:

• The title company handles closing per standard Florida practice
• The lender's payoff (the reduced amount approved in the short sale) is wired to satisfy the mortgage
• The brokerage commission is paid out of sale proceeds
• The deed is recorded, transferring ownership to the buyer
• The mortgage is satisfied; the foreclosure case (if one was active) is dismissed
• You receive any approved relocation assistance if applicable

You move out per the agreed move-out terms. Some short sales close with same-day move-out; some include a brief leaseback period; some involve the buyer being an investor who keeps the existing occupant as a tenant. The structure depends on your specific situation and the buyer.

Step 10: After closing

After the short sale closes, several things happen:

Your mortgage is satisfied. The lender accepts the payment as resolution of the debt. The approval letter's language matters here — most short sale approvals in Florida state that the lender accepts the payment as full satisfaction of the debt. This is the language that protects you from future collection.

Your credit reflects the resolution. A short sale typically appears on your credit report as "settled for less than the full balance" or similar language. The credit impact is generally less damaging than a foreclosure. Most homeowners coming out of a short sale can qualify for a new mortgage within two to four years, depending on the loan program.

Deficiency is resolved per the approval letter. If the approval letter waived deficiency, you have no further obligation. If it didn't, the lender may still pursue you for the difference between what was owed and what was paid. This is why the deficiency language in the approval letter matters before closing.

Tax consequences may apply. Forgiveness of mortgage debt can sometimes be treated as taxable income. The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act and subsequent extensions have provided exclusions for primary residences in many situations, but the rules vary. A tax professional can advise you specifically.

You move forward. The case is closed. Whatever comes next — rebuilding savings, finding new housing, eventually qualifying for a new mortgage — is yours to build.

What this costs you

Nothing out of pocket.

The brokerage commission is paid by your lender out of the sale proceeds at closing. You do not pay an upfront fee, a retainer, a consultation fee, or any other fee to engage Recourse. If a short sale closes, our work is compensated through the standard real estate commission structure built into the transaction. If a short sale doesn't close — for any reason — we're not paid.

You may incur some incidental costs during the process — moving expenses, continued utility and basic maintenance payments through the listing period, potentially some out-of-pocket items if your specific situation requires them (these are rare and we discuss them in context). The brokerage fee itself is paid by the lender.

This is different from how attorneys are paid. If you engage a foreclosure defense attorney, a bankruptcy attorney, or any other attorney alongside or instead of Recourse, their fees are between you and them.

How long this typically takes

From initial contact through closing, Florida short sales typically take three to nine months. Some close faster; some take longer.

The variation is driven by your servicer's processing speed, the investor program governing your loan, the alignment between the BPO and the offered price, whether you have junior liens to negotiate, and whether your foreclosure case (if one is active) is putting pressure on the timeline. The Recourse servicer pages discuss typical timelines for specific lenders.

If you're working against a sale date in an active foreclosure case, the timeline is compressed. We work as fast as the lender allows, sometimes coordinating with the court calendar to delay the sale date long enough for closing to happen first.

What you do; what we do

To be specific about the division of work:

What you do:

• Provide accurate information about your situation
• Sign the third-party authorization
• Gather your financial documentation and upload it to the portal
• Review and approve your hardship letter (we help you draft it)
• Sign the listing agreement
• Make the home available for showings
• Sign documents at closing
• Move out per the agreed terms

What we do:

• Identify your servicer and pull what's available from public records
• Walk you through what to expect at each stage
• Prepare the lender package
• Communicate with your lender on your behalf
• Market the property and qualify buyer offers
• Negotiate with the lender, including BPO challenges
• Handle the procedural complexity that makes short sales difficult
• Coordinate closing
• Keep you informed throughout

What we don't do is decide for you. Every meaningful choice about your case — whether to pursue short sale at all, whether to accept a specific buyer offer, whether to accept a lender counter, whether to accept a modification if offered, whether to involve an attorney — is yours. Our job is to give you the information and the path; the decisions are yours.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to be behind on my mortgage to start working with Recourse?

No. In fact, the earlier you start — even before you've missed a payment — the more options remain available. Most short sale approvals require demonstrated hardship, which usually means being behind on payments at some point, but starting the conversation before you're in crisis preserves maximum flexibility.

What if I'm already in foreclosure?

Short sale is still viable in most cases as long as a sale date hasn't been set and isn't imminent. The earlier in the foreclosure timeline you act, the more operational room exists. We can tell you specifically how much room you have based on where your case stands.

What if I have a second mortgage or HELOC?

We negotiate with both lien holders. The second-lien holder typically accepts a reduced payoff (often substantially reduced) as part of the short sale. This adds complexity but is routine work.

What if my situation changes during the process?

The process adapts. If you get a new job and can afford the house again, we discuss whether to continue or stop. If your hardship worsens, we adjust the file accordingly. If the lender offers a modification, you decide whether to accept it. There's no contractual lock-in that forces a short sale to proceed once it starts.

What if I want to talk to an attorney?

You should, in many situations. We refer to attorneys regularly. Florida has the Florida Bar Lawyer Referral Service for general referrals, plus legal aid organizations for income-qualified clients. We're happy to coordinate with your attorney throughout the process.

Is the portal secure?

Yes. The portal uses standard secure authentication, encrypted data storage, and access logging. Your information is private — only you and the Recourse operational team see what's in your portal.

Can I close the portal and reopen it later?

Yes. The portal stays available as long as you want it. If you want to close it permanently, we can do that and remove your data per Florida real estate record-keeping requirements.

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Or, if you want to read more first, start with what a Florida short sale actually is.

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Recourse is a short sale service of Blue Mar Real Estate Group, Inc.

Blue Mar Real Estate Group, Inc. Licensed Florida Real Estate Broker | License #CQ1018554 [Brokerage business address] [Phone]

Equal Housing Opportunity. We are not attorneys and do not provide legal advice.

© [Year] Blue Mar Real Estate Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

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