Put a bid in on a home in August and we are still waiting!

I just want to know whats up. Thats all. Were trying to buy a short sale. Supposedly one of the womans banks approved the short sale and the other is dragging their feet. Weve been doing this since August. My on or about date was 11/15, then they moved it to 12/15 now its 1/20. I just want a real date and a yes or a no.

Re: Put a bid in on a home in August and we are still waiting!

When you are dealing with 2 banks it can take forever. Many times when there are 2 banks involved the 2nd bank is basically getting nothing and so they would have to write off a total loss. I have not seen many of these actually get approved.

Sorry for the bad news but I would not expect any news anytime soon.

Re: Put a bid in on a home in August and we are still waiting!

I was a paralegal for a Real Estate atty for many many years. Unfortunately Short Sales can take FOREVER to be approved or not. Especially when dealing with 2 banks. They are very slow in responding.
Thats why DH and I stayed away from them when house hunting, we didnt have that kind of time to wait around

Hopefully you receive an answer soon!!!

Re: Put a bid in on a home in August and we are still waiting!

Short sales can take forever even with one bank. We pulled out after 6 mos. Because the mortgage was sold to another bank and we would've had to start the process all over. Our mortgage banker said he had one that finally closed after 11 mos. You just have to be patient I guess...good luck! I'm not very patient lol

Re: Put a bid in on a home in August and we are still waiting!

We waited 3 months for an answer but it was eventually approved. Hope you get an answer soon!

Re: Put a bid in on a home in August and we are still waiting!

Do you know who is working with/negotiating with the banks?

Is the listing agent experienced with short sales? I think the chances of getting the deal to go through are greater when you have a proactive realtor who knows what to do and is not afraid to talk to the banks. Sometimes a good agent can make the first bank see that it is to their benefit to give the second bank more $ versus having a distressed seller keep the house and heading towards foreclosure. There are big carrying costs for the bank involved, and it's usualy to their benefit to have the house sold and cut their losses. But someone has to be knowledgeable enough to make this case to the banks.

Sometimes listing agents will delegate the handling of the short sale to an outside company or a law firm. Again, that can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on the experience and service the outside company provides. But many agents who routinely do short sales like to keep control of the deal.

Have you talked to your attorney to find out what's going on and who's doing what to move this forward and getting the second bank on board? Also, does your contract specify that if the deal is not approved within a certain period of time, you have the right to walk away? Is your attorney experience with short sales?

Many buyers are successful in buying a short sale, but it really helps to know details about the short sale situation (e.g., how many banks are involved? is the seller cooperating? does the bank know the house is on the market? have they agreed to the list price? who will be negotiating with the bank? how experienced are the realtors and attorneys with short sales) before proceeding. And even in the best case scenarios, the buyer does need to be prepared to wait and deal with a certain amount of uncertainty (because there's a lot that's NOT within the buyers' control). That's why a short sale is not for everyone, and I definitely wouldn't recommend a short sale for anyone looking to move within a specific time frame.

At this point, I would just get in touch with your attorney and/or your realtor and press them to get more info as to what is going on and what is being done to resolve the issues. And talk to your attorney about your options if this drags on without resolution for awhile...

Re: Put a bid in on a home in August and we are still waiting!

I hope you get an answer soon, how frustrating!

Re: Put a bid in on a home in August and we are still waiting!

We waited 4 months to hear back on a short sale and we pulled out after that much time. They kept putting it off - the house was vacant and there was vandilism going on. The longer the bank waited, the worse the house got, but we couldnt change our offer!

We were doing a cash offer, so the banks required us to put $7500 in escrow, which we could not get back until 120 days from the offer being made. So we were stuck all that time.

I was heartbroken at the time. That was in August. But it all worked out - we found a beautiful house that was not a short sale and moved in by mid-November.

If we ever move again, I will NEVER try and buy a short sale.

Message edited 12/27/2011 5:17:48 PM.