Short Sale King

COVINA - In real estate circles, Pete Gliniak is known as the "Short Sale King."

Eschewing traditional real estate transactions, Gliniak focuses instead on homeowners who are financially struggling or are in default or foreclosure.

During market downturns - such as the current real estate climate that's emerged in the wake of the subprime fallout and tightened credit standards - many homeowners now owe more on their homes than they are worth.

That's where Gliniak comes in.

As the owner/broker of Real Estate Express in Covina, he knows how to handle these situations.

"You can take any house in any neighborhood and determine the price it can sell for in today's market - not what it used to sell for - but now," the 51-year-old La Verne resident explained. "Then you deduct the normal and traditional selling costs. If there's not enough left to pay off the house, you put together a short-sale package."

The goal, according to Gliniak, is to make the best of a bad situation.

The homeowner doesn't get anything from the sale, but a short sale is considerably less damaging to a homeowner's credit rating than if the home were to go into foreclosure, he said.

In many cases, the lender has to absorb the loss if a home sells for less than the loan amount, according to Gliniak.