Buying A Short Sale Home: What You Need to Know

For individuals in the market for a home, current housing market conditions are quite favorable. If you are looking for a property which is more affordable than most existing homes for sale, you might consider a home being offered via a short sale.

Compared to the other homes for sale, you will certainly enjoy more savings as these homes’ selling price are based on current market values. At the same time, the desperation of the owner to sell the property in order to avoid foreclosure means they are more willing to negotiate prices.

But before you start checking out neighborhoods in search of these short sale properties, you need to know there are challenges which you would not usually encounter if you are buying a regular home on the market.

Making An Offer

Since the home is being sold at an amount less than what the owner owes in mortgage, you need to make sure your offer will keep the lender happy. Yes, it is the lender who will decide whether or not to accept your offer. A good way to ensure the lender will agree to the sale is by doing some research and finding out the current value of the home you are interested in as well as the other nearby properties. Your offer should be close to these figures if you want the lender to take you seriously.

Waiting for the Approval

Lenders usually consider many factors when it comes to accepting a short sale proposal. For instance, they have to take into account the market value of the home and the seller’s true financial status. It would help, if along with your offer, you would provide a pre-approval letter from the bank that will finance your purchase. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee the lender will accept and during this time, all you can really do is to wait.

Of course, the entire process will be so much simpler with a seasoned short sale Realtor by your side. And at the end of the day, you will be glad to have waited since short sale homes are presently the best deal in the market.