The Distressed Market Continues to Change.
Make Sure You Are Changing with It!

The distressed real estate market continues to change, and the warning signs are becoming harder to ignore. This month, we examine why published delinquency numbers may not reveal the entire story, which loan vintages offer the strongest short-sale opportunities, what we learned at the Five Star Conference and why HOA liens may be one of the best overlooked sources of new business. We also review the latest mortgage-performance numbers and explain what every CSSE agent should be doing now to prepare for the growing demand ahead.

IN THIS ISSUE

  • Why Today’s Delinquency Numbers May Be Hiding What Is Really Happening
  • Loan Sales and Servicing Transfers Can Create Reporting Gaps
  • The Truth About “Delinquent Mortgage Lists”
  • Where to Find Short Sales: Watch the 2019, 2023 and 2024 Loan Vintages
  • Why Some Homeowners Have Less Equity Than Public Records Suggest
  • Short Sales Are Moving Onto Everyone’s Radar
  • HOA Liens: An Overlooked Source of Short-Sale Leads
  • The Number That Concerns Us Most: Borrowers Reaching 90+ Days Delinquent
  • What the Latest Mortgage-Performance Numbers Mean for CSSE Agents
  • Equator Update: Make Sure Clients Can Find Your CSSE Designation
  • Special CSSE Certification and Equator Agent Elite Discounts

Why Today’s Delinquency Numbers May Be Hiding What Is Really Happening

One of the most important things every real estate professional needs to understand is that mortgage delinquency data does not always reflect what is happening in real time.

There is often a significant delay between a homeowner falling behind and that delinquency appearing in the reports we follow.

That delay is especially important right now because of the number of mortgage servicing transfers, portfolio sales and nonperforming-loan sales taking place throughout the industry.

When a large portfolio of loans is transferred from one servicer to another, the process does not happen overnight. Although the new servicer must be prepared to accept payments as of the effective transfer date, planning, transferring data, reconciling accounts and completely boarding a large portfolio can take several months, especially when the portfolio contains delinquent or otherwise complicated loans.

There is also a great deal of confusion about the 60-day credit-reporting protection following a “servicing transfer”.

Under RESPA and Regulation X, for 60 days after the effective transfer date, a borrower cannot be treated as late when an on-time payment was mistakenly sent to the old servicer. The borrower cannot be charged a late fee, and the new servicer cannot report that transfer-related payment as delinquent.

This is not a blanket prohibition against all credit reporting for 60 days. A servicer may still report accurate information, including a delinquency that existed before the transfer or a payment that was genuinely missed and was not sent to either servicer.

Operationally, however, many servicers take an extremely cautious approach during the transfer and boarding period. Some may suppress or delay certain reporting for 60 to 90 days while accounts are reconciled and servicing information is verified.

That means the delinquency numbers we see today may already be months behind the actual condition of the loans.

Loan Sales Can Create an Additional Reporting Gap

Now add nonperforming-loan sales to the equation.

Loans owned or backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other major institutions are generally included in the industry reports we regularly follow. When seriously delinquent loans are sold into private portfolios, however, the purchaser may not report information through the same channels, or with the same frequency as the previous owner or servicer.

Some purchasers may report to the credit bureaus and industry databases. Others may not.

Reporting practices vary considerably among private investors, specialty servicers and nonbank entities.

The combination of servicing-transfer delays, cautious credit reporting and delinquent loans moving to entities that may not appear in the same datasets can materially distort the numbers.

The loans did not suddenly become current.

In some cases, they simply became harder to see.

That is why we know that the distressed-loan problem is larger than many of the published numbers currently suggest. The visible foreclosure pipeline is growing, but there may be another layer of distress moving through servicing transfers, portfolio sales and private nonperforming-loan transactions that has not yet fully appeared in the reports.

This is one reason we expect 2027 to become an extremely active year for short sales, coordinated sales, valuations and eventually REO.

You need to prepare before those files begin arriving – not after your market becomes overwhelmed with them.

The Truth About “Delinquent Mortgage Lists”

This brings us to another subject every CSSE agent needs to understand.

There is no publicly available list containing the names of borrowers who are 30, 60 or 90+ days behind on their mortgage.

Mortgage companies and servicers cannot simply disclose private borrower-payment information to real estate agents, investors or marketing companies. A homeowner’s financial difficulty generally does not become part of the public record until some type of public action occurs, such as the filing of a Notice of Default, Lis Pendens, foreclosure complaint or another document required by that state’s foreclosure process.

A legitimate pre-foreclosure list is normally created from those public filings.

The problem is that some companies advertise what they call “mortgage delinquency lists” or lists of homeowners who are supposedly behind on their payments.

Those companies do not have access to the borrower’s actual mortgage-payment history.

They are using predictive algorithms.

They combine public records, property information, loan characteristics, estimated equity, credit indicators, demographic information and other available data to predict which homeowners may be experiencing financial distress.

Those predictions may identify useful prospects, but they are not verified delinquent loans. Some of the homeowners may be behind, some may be facing other financial problems, and some may be perfectly current.

Agents should understand what they are actually purchasing – before spending money on one of these lists.

Ask the provider:

  • Is this based on an actual recorded foreclosure filing?
  • Is it a Notice of Default, lis pendens or another public filing?
  • Is it merely a predictive-distress model?
  • What information is being used to generate the prediction?
  • How frequently is the data updated?
  • How does the company verify its accuracy?

Do not pay a premium for a so-called “delinquency list” under the assumption that it contains confidential lender information. In nearly every case, it does not.

More importantly, you do not necessarily need to purchase one of these expensive predictive lists.

The CSSE Marketing Module already gives you the tools and information needed to identify many of the same characteristics yourself. You can target the loan vintages, property types, equity positions, borrower groups and local financial-pressure indicators most likely to produce future distress.

You can also build relationships with the professionals who often encounter struggling homeowners before a foreclosure is filed, including:

  • Bankruptcy, divorce, probate and foreclosure-defense attorneys.
  • Housing counselors.
  • Tax professionals.
  • HOA and condominium professionals.
  • Insurance agents.
  • Other real estate agents.
  • Past clients and members of your community.

The goal is not simply to obtain another list.

The goal is to recognize financial distress earlier, educate homeowners about their options and become the local professional people trust before foreclosure becomes their only remaining alternative.

The public foreclosure lists show you where the market has already been.

Understanding servicing transfers, loan sales and early distress indicators can help you see where the market is going.

Where to Find Short Sales: Watch the 2019, 2023 and 2024 Loan Vintages

We have repeatedly told you that the 2023 and 2024 loan vintages are among the best places to look for potential short-sale business.

These homeowners purchased recently, frequently with small down payments, and many have not owned their properties long enough to accumulate meaningful equity. Add higher insurance premiums, property taxes, HOA expenses, consumer debt and living costs, and it is easy to understand why these newer loans are experiencing problems.

However, another loan vintage has now moved onto our radar.

Loans originated in 2019 currently have the third-highest delinquency rate among the vintages we have been studying.

At first, that does not seem to make sense.

A homeowner who purchased their home in 2019 has owned the property for almost seven years.

Property values increased considerably in many markets during that period, so you would naturally assume that most of these homeowners have plenty of equity.

Some will.

But the property’s appreciation is only one side of the equation.

The other side is how much the homeowner actually owes.

The Equity You See May Not Be Real

During the COVID period, borrowers were offered extraordinary levels of mortgage assistance.

Depending upon their loan type and circumstances, many received forbearances, loan modifications, partial claims, payment deferrals or subordinate “silent second” liens.

Instead of requiring all the missed payments to be paid immediately, the delinquent amount could be deferred and placed behind the existing mortgage. The borrower restarted regular payments, while the deferred balance remained secured by the property and generally became due when the home was sold, refinanced or the first mortgage was paid off.

In many cases, borrowers were able to return for additional assistance when they became delinquent again.

That means some of the 2019 borrowers appearing in today’s delinquency numbers may not be experiencing their first default.

They may have been struggling repeatedly for years.

They received a forbearance, restarted payments and fell behind again. They received another workout, restarted and became delinquent again.

Each time, additional unpaid principal, interest or other advances could be deferred or added to their total mortgage debt.

The public records may still show the original first mortgage, but they may not clearly reveal the homeowner’s complete current payoff.

Here Is What the Math Can Look Like

Consider a homeowner who purchased a property in 2019 with a $400,000 mortgage.

Under programs that allowed deferred amounts or partial claims totaling up to approximately 30% of the applicable mortgage balance, as much as another $120,000 could potentially be secured against the property.

Illustrative calculation Amount
Original mortgage $400,000
Potential deferred arrearages or partial claims $120,000
Potential total mortgage-related debt $520,000
Estimated current property value $475,000
Potential shortage before selling expenses $45,000

The house appreciated.

On the surface, it may appear that the homeowner gained $75,000 in value.

But after adding the deferred mortgage debt from multiple loan mods or other programs,  the homeowner could actually be at least $45,000 underwater – and that is before commissions, closing costs, delinquent taxes, HOA balances, repairs, judgments or other liens are considered.

The exact payoff will vary considerably by borrower and program. The important lesson is that you cannot determine equity simply by comparing today’s estimated value with the original mortgage shown in the public record.

You need the complete payoff information, including every partial claim, subordinate lien, deferred balance and other amount due when the property is sold.

Why the 2019 Borrower May Be the Stronger Short-Sale Prospect

The 2023 and 2024 borrowers are obvious targets because they purchased recently and probably began with very little equity.

The 2019 borrower may be an even stronger short-sale prospect.

A borrower becoming delinquent on a 2019 loan today may have already received multiple rounds of assistance. The current delinquency may be another event in a pattern of chronic financial distress rather than a temporary problem.

Current loss-mitigation programs place greater restrictions on repeated assistance.

Depending upon the investor and program, borrowers may face seasoning requirements, limits on additional modifications and mandatory trial-payment plans before a new modification becomes permanent.

Many borrowers cannot successfully complete those trial plans.

If the homeowner has exhausted the available retention options, cannot maintain the payment and owes more than the property will net after a sale, a short sale may be the most realistic remaining alternative to foreclosure.

That is why the rising delinquency rate among 2019 loans makes perfect sense once you understand the complete story.

Your Three Best Target Groups

If you are trying to identify homeowners who may need short-sale assistance, concentrate part of your research and marketing on:

  • Homes financed in 2023: Recent purchases, limited appreciation and very little initial equity.
  • Homes financed in 2024: Even less time to build equity and greater exposure to today’s insurance, tax and household-cost pressures.
  • Homes financed in 2019: Properties that may have appreciated but could carry substantial deferred balances, partial claims or silent seconds following repeated periods of delinquency and loss mitigation.

Continue paying particular attention to FHA and VA financing because those loan categories have experienced some of the highest delinquency rates. Cross-reference the loan type with the purchase or origination year whenever that information is available.

Your strongest potential targets may be:

  • FHA or VA borrowers who purchased in 2023.
  • FHA or VA borrowers who purchased in 2024.
  • Borrowers who purchased or financed in 2019 and may have received previous loss-mitigation assistance.

You will not know whether a particular homeowner needs a short sale until you understand the property value, complete mortgage payoff, subordinate claims, liens and anticipated selling expenses.

But these three loan vintages give you a much better place to begin looking.

Do not assume that seven years of appreciation automatically created equity.

For some 2019 borrowers, the property value increased – but their total mortgage debt increased right along with it. (possibly as high as 130% of the original loan balance!)

Those homeowners may have exhausted their retention options, become delinquent again and now need a knowledgeable Certified Short Sale Expert to help them avoid foreclosure.

The Message From the Five Star Conference Was Clear: Short Sales Are Moving Onto Everyone’s Radar

Many of us just returned from the Five Star Conference in Dallas.

Five Star has always been primarily an REO and default-servicing conference. That is why one of the most significant things I noticed this year was the amount of attention being given to short sales.

Short sales were discussed on almost every panel I attended.

Lenders, servicers, asset managers and other industry professionals repeatedly talked about:

  • Increasing mortgage delinquencies.
  • Borrowers exhausting their loss-mitigation options.
  • The growing need for short sales.
  • Servicer-initiated coordinated sales.
  • Valuation and fraud concerns.
  • HOA liens and HOA foreclosures.
  • The need to rebuild short-sale knowledge and operational capacity.

Short sales created so much interest that Five Star, which has traditionally offered REO training and certification, also offered short-sale training this year.

That should tell you something.

The rest of the industry is starting to recognize what we have been telling you all along: short sales are returning, the need for them is growing, and they will become a much larger part of the distressed-property market.

For those of you who have already earned your Certified Short Sale Expert designation, you were there first.

You already have the training, tools, forms, marketing materials and systems. Now you need to start using them.

The advantage of being early disappears when everyone else catches up.

Lenders and Servicers Are Preparing Too

Most of you know that CSSE does not train only real estate agents and brokers. We also teach a separate Short Sale Risk and Recovery Training Program for lenders, servicers, asset managers, loss-mitigation specialists and other institutional professionals working on their side of the transaction.

We are offering that program again this month.

The original program consisted of three weekly sessions. We have now expanded it to four modules, because HOA liens and HOA foreclosures have become such a serious problem that they require an entire additional module.

Think about what that means.

HOA issues are creating so many delays, losses and closing problems that the lenders, servicers and asset managers approving short sales also need specialized training on how to handle them.

That is why we substantially expanded the HOA training within the CSSE agent course as well.

If you completed the CSSE course recently, you should have already seen the updated material. If you earned your designation before the new HOA module was added, go back into the CSSE member training area and review it.

The expanded material explains how to:

  • Identify HOA and condominium claims early.
  • Determine whether a lien or foreclosure has been filed.
  • Obtain accurate payoff and estoppel information.
  • Identify questionable collection costs and attorney fees.
  • Understand lien priority and applicable state limitations.
  • Communicate the problem properly to the servicer.
  • Challenge improper or excessive charges when appropriate.
  • Resolve the HOA balance before it destroys the closing.

This is no longer a minor part of the short-sale transaction.

It needs to be investigated when you take the listing – not three days before closing.

HOA Liens May Be One of the Best Overlooked Sources of Short-Sale Leads

We explained earlier that there is no public list showing everyone who is 30, 60 or 90+ days behind on their mortgage.

A borrower’s mortgage-payment history is private. Until a Notice of Default, lis pendens, foreclosure complaint or another public foreclosure document is filed, agents generally cannot verify that the homeowner is delinquent.

Companies selling so-called “mortgage delinquency lists” are usually using predictive algorithms. Those lists may be helpful, but they generally do not contain verified private payment information.

HOA and condominium association liens are different. – Very Different!

Once an HOA lien or HOA foreclosure action is recorded, it generally becomes part of the public record.

That makes HOA lien filings one of the strongest – and most overlooked sources of potential distressed-property business.

Most agents are not monitoring these records.

They are all chasing the same foreclosure lists, calling the same homeowners and competing with investors, wholesalers, attorneys and every other agent purchasing the same data.

Meanwhile, HOA lien filings may identify homeowners experiencing serious financial pressure before their mortgage foreclosure becomes public.

An HOA lien does not automatically prove that the homeowner is behind on the mortgage.

However, it is a very strong indication that something is wrong.

Most homeowners do everything possible to prevent an HOA lien from being recorded against their property. The original unpaid dues may be only part of the problem. Once the account is sent to collections, the homeowner may also face:

  • Late charges.
  • Interest.
  • Fines.
  • Collection expenses.
  • Attorney fees.
  • Lien-recording costs.
  • Foreclosure expenses.

A relatively manageable HOA balance can quickly grow by another $3,000 to $5,000 or more, once attorneys and collection companies become involved.

If a homeowner cannot resolve the account before it reached that stage, there is a good possibility that they are facing broader financial problems.

They may also be struggling with their mortgage, property taxes, insurance, credit cards, auto payments or other household expenses.

They may not yet be in mortgage foreclosure, but they may still need help.

Start Monitoring HOA Filings in Your Market

Every CSSE agent should learn how HOA and condominium liens are recorded and searched in their local market.

Depending upon your state and county, these records may be found through:

  • The county recorder.
  • Clerk of court records.
  • Public lien indexes.
  • Civil court filings.
  • HOA foreclosure filings.
  • Local legal notices.
  • Title and property-record databases.

Search for liens and foreclosure actions filed by homeowners associations, condominium associations, association management companies and the law firms that regularly represent them.

Research the property, estimated value, mortgage history and other public information. Then use the homeowner-focused outreach tools provided in the CSSE Marketing Module.

Do not approach the homeowner by accusing them of being behind on their mortgage.

Instead, explain that you specialize in helping homeowners evaluate their real estate options when HOA liens, assessments, mortgage problems or other financial pressures make it difficult to keep or sell their property.

Lead with education and assistance.

These homeowners may need:

  • An explanation of how an HOA lien affects a sale.
  • Help determining their approximate net proceeds.
  • Assistance obtaining and reviewing the HOA payoff.
  • A conventional sale before their financial condition worsens.
  • A short sale if the total debt exceeds the property’s net value.
  • Coordination among the mortgage servicer, HOA, attorneys and closing agent.
  • Immediate assistance if the HOA has already started foreclosure.

This is exactly the type of complicated situation where a Certified Short Sale Expert provides real value.

You Already Have the Advantage—Use It

The conversations at Five Star confirmed that lenders, servicers and asset managers are preparing for more short sales and coordinated sales.

The addition of HOA training for both agents and institutional professionals confirms that these liens will play a growing role in distressed-property transactions.

The opportunity is no longer theoretical.

The industry sees it. The lenders see it. The servicers see it. Your competitors are beginning to see it.

As a Certified Short Sale Expert, you already have the head start.

Start monitoring HOA liens and HOA foreclosures in your market. Review the expanded CSSE training. Use the materials in your marketing module. Begin reaching these homeowners before every other agent discovers the opportunity.

Do not wait until everyone is chasing the same lists.

The agents who act now will be the ones positioned to help these homeowners and receive the business as this market continues to grow.

The Number That Concerns Us Most: More Borrowers Are Now Reaching 90+ Days Delinquent

The latest verified mortgage-performance numbers from ICE confirm that financial distress continues to build beneath the surface of the housing market.

According to ICE’s July 2026 Mortgage Performance Report:

July 2026 mortgage-performance data Loans
30 or more days delinquent but not in foreclosure 1,875,000
Approximately 30–89 days delinquent 1,312,000
90 or more days delinquent but not in foreclosure 563,000
Loans in active foreclosure 296,000
Total delinquent or in foreclosure 2,171,000

The national mortgage-delinquency rate was 3.39%.

ICE also reported:

  • 40,000 foreclosure starts, up 22.8% from July 2025.
  • 7,900 completed foreclosure sales, up 14.2% year over year.
  • Completed foreclosure sales increased substantially from approximately 5,000 during the previous month.

Every one of these numbers matters, but the statistic that concerns that should concern you most is the number of borrowers now reaching serious delinquency.

Not Every Delinquency Is the Same

Homeowners become 30 days late for many reasons.

A payment may be delayed because of a temporary interruption in income, an unexpected expense, a banking mistake or simply poor timing. Many borrowers who become 30 days delinquent catch up the following month.

Some borrowers also become 60 days delinquent and still recover.

The situation changes dramatically when a borrower reaches 90 days past due.

By that point, the homeowner is usually three full mortgage payments behind, along with any accumulated late charges and other expenses. Catching up becomes much more difficult because the borrower must continue paying current household expenses while somehow finding enough money to cure several months of missed payments.

The odds of self-curing drop significantly once a loan reaches serious delinquency.

That is why the movement of borrowers from 30 and 60 days late into the 90-day category is so important. We are seeing more borrowers move deeper into delinquency instead of recovering during the early stages.

That is not a good sign.

The 563,000 loans that were already at least 90 days delinquent in July – but had not yet entered foreclosure represent a substantial pipeline of homeowners who may soon exhaust their available retention options.

Some may receive successful loan modifications, repayment plans or other assistance.

Many will not.

Foreclosure Starts Are Moving Higher

The 40,000 foreclosure starts reported in July were up 22.8% year over year.

That increase tells us that more seriously delinquent loans are beginning to move from loss mitigation into the legal foreclosure process.

Completed foreclosure sales are also rising. ICE reported 7,900 completed sales in July, compared with approximately 5,000 the previous month.

That is a significant monthly increase, but completed foreclosures still represent loans that may have entered the process months or even years earlier.

Foreclosure timelines vary tremendously by state. Judicial foreclosure states generally take much longer than nonjudicial states, and contested files, bankruptcy filings, title problems, probate issues and servicing transfers can extend those timelines even further.

That creates a substantial delay between:

  1. The borrower first missing payments.
  2. The loan reaching serious delinquency.
  3. The foreclosure being started. (reported)
  4. The property finally completing foreclosure and becoming REO.

Based on the volume already moving through the pipeline and the time required to complete foreclosures in different states, we expect completed foreclosure sales to continue increasing through 2027. By late 2027, completions could begin approaching a much larger percentage of the foreclosure activity currently entering the system, potentially around 70%, depending upon state timelines and how many borrowers receive successful loss-mitigation resolutions.

That is a projection, not an ICE forecast, but the direction of the pipeline is becoming increasingly clear.

Remember: The Numbers Are Already Behind

Mortgage-performance reports are historical and already behind by the time we receive them.

These are July numbers being discussed well after July has ended.

August mortgage-performance figures had not yet been released when this newsletter was prepared.

We will cover those results in the next issue once verified data becomes available.

Servicing transfers, loan sales, boarding delays and cautious credit reporting can create additional reporting gaps. Therefore, the conditions we see in published reports may be several weeks or even several months behind what is actually happening inside servicing portfolios.

The visible numbers are concerning.

The numbers we cannot see yet may be even more significant!

What This Means for Certified Short Sale Experts

For struggling homeowners, this is not good news.

A borrower moving from 60 to 90 days delinquent is getting closer to the point where the available solutions become very limited, the amount required to reinstate the loan becomes unrealistic and foreclosure becomes increasingly difficult to avoid.

That is exactly when knowledgeable help matters most.

For Certified Short Sale Experts, these numbers confirm that the demand for your services is growing.

The opportunity is not simply waiting for the 296,000 loans already in active foreclosure. The greater opportunity may be helping the 563,000 seriously delinquent borrowers who have not yet entered foreclosure.

Those homeowners may still have time to:

  • Review their remaining loss-mitigation options.
  • Determine whether they have sufficient equity for a conventional sale.
  • Identify partial claims, silent seconds and other deferred balances.
  • Resolve HOA liens, taxes and subordinate debts.
  • Begin a short sale before foreclosure deadlines eliminate their options.
  • Protect their credit and avoid the additional costs of a completed foreclosure.

This is why you need to begin building your marketing, referral relationships and short-sale systems now.

Do not wait until these loans become REO.

Do not wait until the foreclosure lists become crowded with every agent, investor and wholesaler in your market.

The movement into 90-day delinquency is the warning.

It tells us that more homeowners are failing to recover, more loans are approaching foreclosure and more families will need alternatives.

The professionals who understand these numbers and reach homeowners early will be in the best position to provide those alternatives.

Equator Update: Make Sure Clients Can Find Your CSSE Designation

Equator continues to be one of the Certified Short Sale Experts program’s strongest industry supporters.

Three of the five largest mortgage servicers process short sales through Equator, and their clients also use the platform to assign and manage coordinated sales. Equator currently has approximately 4,000 short sales on its platform – and that number is growing.

Equator has created a dedicated CSSE certification field within its agent profiles. The designation is searchable, allowing servicers and institutional clients to identify agents who have completed specialized short-sale training.

Equator is also:

  • Providing agents with a direct link to take the CSSE course.
  • Promoting the certification to agents who contact its support teams.
  • Providing agents with a CSSE discount code worth $100 off the course.
  • Promoting CSSE during live seminars and other agent-training events.

Equator receives no revenue share from these registrations. It is supporting the program because its clients need trained agents who can properly manage short sales and coordinated sales.

Update Your Equator Profile Now

If you already hold the CSSE designation, log in to your Equator account and:

  1. Confirm that the CSSE certification field is selected.
  2. Upload your CSSE completion certificate.
  3. Add CSSE immediately after your name in your profile.
  4. Review your contact information and coverage areas.
  5. Make sure every section of your profile is complete.

Do not assume clients know you are certified simply because you completed the course.

If your certificate has not been uploaded, Equator may not be able to verify your designation. If CSSE is displayed directly after your name, clients can see your qualification immediately – even before opening the rest of your profile.

Add CSSE to Every Other Platform, Too

Equator is currently able to display and search the CSSE designation directly. Many other servicing, valuation and asset-management platforms do not yet have a dedicated CSSE field.

That does not mean you should leave the designation off your profile.

During the Five Star Conference, we spoke with numerous clients who use platforms other than Equator. They are aware of the Certified Short Sale Experts program, understand the training our members receive and want a way to identify CSSE agents.

The simplest solution is to add CSSE immediately after your name on every platform you use.

For example:

Jane Smith, CSSE

Update your name or professional-title field wherever permitted on:

  • Servicing and asset-management platforms.
  • Valuation and BPO platforms.
  • REO registration systems.
  • Referral networks.
  • MLS and brokerage profiles.
  • LinkedIn and other professional profiles.
  • Your email signature.
  • Your website and online biography.

If the platform does not permit credentials in the name field, place Certified Short Sale Expert® prominently in your professional summary, qualifications or certification section.

Clients cannot search for a qualification they cannot see.

More lenders, servicers and asset managers are preparing for short sales and coordinated sales. They are learning what the CSSE designation means, but it remains your responsibility to make sure they can identify you.

Take 30 minutes this week and update every professional profile you maintain.

A client searching for a short-sale professional should immediately see that you are trained, certified and ready to accept the assignment.

If You Haven’t Earned Your CSSE Certification Yet, Now Is the Time

Short sales are increasing, and the agents who are properly trained and positioned now will be the ones best prepared to capture this growing opportunity.

Save $100 on your CSSE Certification with discount code:

(T4DDUJM2)

Your registration also includes a FREE one-year listing in the CSSE Online Directory—a $348 value. The directory gives homeowners, lenders, servicers and others searching for qualified short-sale professionals another way to find you.

You can also strengthen your presence on the Equator platform by saving 35% on Equator Agent Elite with code:

CSSEAE2026

Don’t wait until short sales are everywhere and everyone else is trying to catch up. Get trained, get certified and position yourself now for the opportunities ahead.