There is always a good reason to do a final walk-through before closing escrow. Especially when you're buying a Sacramento short sale home that is vacant. Plus, some banks won't approve short sales if a home has been abandoned.

In one instance, I had a Sacramento short sale that was approved by the first lender but the second lender submitted a condition for approval. The bank said the home must be occupied by the seller. The seller had moved a couple of miles away and refused to move back into the home, not even for 30 days so it could close. The bank's stance was the home had been abandoned, and it would not issue short sale approval on an abandoned home.

The problem with abandoned short sale homes and, for that matter, vacant homes of any nature, is thieves who are looking to make a fast buck seem to target these homes. They break in and cart off appliances, tear out cabinets and light fixtures, and sometimes they vandalize the interior just for the fun of it. I suspect they look them up online, see they are vacant and on the market for months, and figure those homes are ripe for pilfering.

For example, another of my Sacramento short sale listings closed a few days ago. The buyer waited 5 1/2 months for Countrywide to approve the sale. The sellers had sold the home in 2008 on a short sale when it was listed by a different real estate agent. But all those buyers seemed to vanish, the sale was never approved, so the sellers moved out. They hired me in April as their Sacramento short sale agent.

We immediately received a bunch of offers and by May were in escrow as an active short sale contingent. Sent all the paperwork to the bank and submitted monthly financial updates. Unlike a Wachovia short sale, Bank of America (which acquired Countrywide) is as slow as molasses.

After the escrow closed, the buyers did not meet their agent until the following day to get the keys. They discovered upon entrance that the copper plumbing had been ripped out and certain essential items had been stolen. The buyers felt the bank or sellers should be held responsible. However, the bank did not own the home and it no longer belonged to the sellers, either.

This reminds me of a home I sold in the early 1990s. Right after closing took place, during a torrential rainstorm, lightning hit a 100-year-old elm tree in my back yard, split it in two, and it landed on top of my neighbor's garage. It also looked like a cannonball had crashed through my roof and left a gaping hole, probably from hail. Stuff happens. And because it happened after closing, it was the buyers' responsibility.

Nobody knows when this Sacramento short sale was vandalized. I suggested that the buyers file a police report, a thought that hadn't yet occurred to them. I feel very badly for the buyers and their buyer's agent. They waited all this time to buy this home, jumped through a number of hoops to meet lender requirements and were finally handed the keys only to discover their beautiful new home was damaged. It's one of many reasons not to buy a short sale.