Short sales

We fell in love wirh a short sale house. Could anyone share their experience with them or any feedback/advice whatsoever. Would be very appreciated.

Tia

Re: Short sales

Anyone?

Re: Short sales

I think the short sale experience really varies depending on the bank (or banks) involved, how the listing agent handles it, etc.

If the listing agent does it right, when he or she takes the listing, she gets the homeowners' permission to talk to the bank that holds the mortgage and gets the bank involved early in the process. The seller has to show certain things to convince the bank to accept a short sale -- there is a whole package to be submitted ot the bank. A knowledgeable agent can guide the sellers through the process and be their intermediary with the bank.

But I have encountered many short sale listings where the listing agent has no idea what the process is, the bank has no idea the home is on the market. In this case, the likelihood of a deal going through is slim, and if it does, it's going to be a long process.

Even a short sale done the right way takes longer than a straight sale. Banks can take months to approve an offer, and once it's approved, they usually want to move quickly to closing. But if time is of the essence for you -- i.e., you need to be in your new house by a set date -- a short sale is probably not the way to go.

So my advice would be to have your agent (if you have one) really dig into the situation and find out what banks are involved, what stage of the process the short sale is in, and just get as much info as possible before you decide to move ahead.

Beth -- another agent on this site -- handles a lot of short sales and may have other insights.

Good luck!

Re: Short sales

DH and I bought a short sale and I couldn't be happier. It did take a while, we put the offer in at the beginning of August and didn't hear an answer or close till the end of October. For us it wasn't a big deal because we weren't selling first. The house was as is and needed work, but again, we knew what we were getting into. We got a great deal and when values fell so much, we still managed to gain value over what we paid. Good luck to you!

Re: Short sales

Thanks so much. I really appreciate it.