Special offer

When is a Short Sale a Good Deal for a Buyer?

By
Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Check Realty

One of the things I find myself explaining frequently to buyers is "when are short sales a good idea for me?". First lets take a look at the Prescott AZ market breakdown:

 

Breakdown of Prescott Sale Type

Right now Bank owned or REO sales make up the lion's share at nearly half of all sales. Then retail sales come in at 42% with short sales making up only 8%. This is interesting because if you look at type of sales by listing, short sales make up between 25% to 30% of all the Yavapai County listings. So why the big discrepancy? The fact is the huge majority of short sales never close. Instead they end up as a foreclosure and any buyers who wrote offers and waited patiently ended up waisting time.

There are however situations where the short sale listing is a good deal and a good idea for certain buyers.  Here is what to look for:

Listing Agent Experience.  This is probably the most important element. The agents specialize in short sales and already have the systems and tools in place to manage them have good success at closing them. The rest of the agents who try to do one or two a year are not likely to succeed.

Pre-Approved Short Sale: Sometimes a buyer has written an offer and waited weeks or months while the lender processes the short sale. At last the sale is approved and the buyer has walked away. Now we have a situation where we don't have to wait for approval, and we already know the approved price. These are harder to find, but can be as good a deal as REO listings.

One-of-a-kind-Home: Occassionally we find a home that is just not available any other way. If the buyer has the time and patience, it may be worth the wait. Of course I make it my job to find the buyer a better deal while we are waiting for a response from the lender.

 

Dave Conners enjoys learning new ways to help his clients reach their goals.

Comments (0)