Whenever I write an offer for a Sacramento buyer, I always pull the property profile to figure out how much the seller owes. For some unknown reason, I've run across listing agents who forget to do this when they take the listing, and I have no idea why.

Not every buyer has the patience or fortitude to wait through a short sale, and some agents don't advertise that their listing is actually a short sale listing.

I showed a home in East Sacramento that was advertised as a regular active listing in MLS. The buyer loved the home. It fit his needs completely. I had called the agent to question the loan balances because they appeared to leave no wiggle room in the price, meaning the buyer would have to offer full price to pay off the existing loans.

The listing agent assured me that the sellers were very eager to sell -- extremely motivated -- because they were moving out of state. The agent also said the sellers were aware that they would have to bring in money to close.

The buyer wrote a fair offer. Even the listing agent thought it was a fair offer, although it was $45,000* under the listed price. I presented a fairly compelling case as to why my buyer's offer was reasonable.

But upon presentation, the offer was rejected. Know why? Because it turned out that the seller had been paying less than interest payments on an Option ARM over the past four years and now owed $80,000* more than the original loan balance. The sellers did not want to do a short sale nor did they have enough cash to bridge the gap between the sales price and loan balance.

As a result, the agent -- believing the home will not appraise for list price -- has now taken the home off the market and my buyer is back on the hunt. What a shame.

*the numbers have been changed to protect the parties

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Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout Sacramento. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you.

The Short Sale Savior,by Elizabeth Weintraub, available through bookstores everywhere and at Amazon.com.

Sacramento Short Sale Agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, has the answers to your Sacramento short sale questions.

Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub, sample home in East Sacramento but not the home I'm writing about nor my listing or sale.