About to do a Short Sale

[Anonymous]

I divorced last year.  Due to the housing market my ex and I will be proceeding with a short sale (or at least that is the hope if the mortgage company approves it).  We have an offer which is 45% less then what we owe on the property.  It is a condo and in our area they just aren't going from much anymore.  If the mortgage company does not accept it then we will be going into foreclosure.

We are current on our payments and were informed by the mortgage company that we had to be late on payments before they would consider a short sale (at least 31 days).  Since we have all the paperwork in they think it won't take long to process the short sale if it is accepted.

Everything I have read states that a short sale will be considered a foreclosure with FICO scores.  I am just curious how much of a hit people have taken in the past when they do a foreclosure/short sale.  My FICO is 769, I have never been late on a payment, good credit history, I don't have the longest credit history but it is long enough and my revolving credit will be completely taken care of this month.

So, I'm just trying to figure out how big of a hit my score take?  I realize that being this high will likely make it fall even harder (which is unfair if you ask me) but I would like to have an estimated number.  Also, how has everyone built their credit back in 2 years or less?  I was thinking that the only thing I could do was make small purchases (gas maybe?) and pay them off that month before they have an interest hit for a year or so.

I have been doing the "Total Money Makeover" which means the only reason in the future that I will need a high credit score would be for a mortgage only.  I am looking to get a mortgage in abut 3 maybe 4 years if all goes according to plan and I would like to have my credit score where it is now or better.

Thanks for your help in advance!

[ShanetheMortgageMan]

May want to ask a moderator (one will come along shortly) to move this to the rebuilding your credit section as it really pertains moreso to the affects of mortgage lates on your credit and where to go from there.  If you ultimately go 120 days late on the mortgage, but it's immediately cured without rolling 120 day lates, my guess is you may go down into the mid 600's.  It'll primarily depend on how the mortgage history reports until the final action.  So it could be a 30 day, 60 day, 90 day and then paid off/short sale completed... or the bank may never foreclose and while it may stop reporting late payments, in that situation the foreclosure seasoning hasn't started until they legally take it from you (I've spoken to people who years after they felt they were foreclosed upon, it turns out they still legally own the home complete with years of delinquent taxes as well).  If you already have a notice of trustee's sale then it appears the foreclosure action would be looming if the short sale doesn't go through, and unless your home is in the boonies or someplace that is tough as nails to sell a home, it'll probably be purchased.  If your agent has listed your home competitively and isn't accepting a low-ball offer then as long as you aren't totally bailing on your bills and you are actually going through a hardship then odds are your short sale will be approved before the trustee sale as long as the bank is processing the current short sale offer.