In fact, the short sale ride is long, bumpy, and possibly dangerous to the riders.  Short sales are tough, now more so than ever before.  I know.  I've been doing them for 20 years... not 20 minutes.

Aren't we, as a real estate community, all about solving problems?  Isn't that what drives us?  That presumes we recognise the problem we attempt to solve as a whole... not just what can be seen froma quick peek through a keyhole.  If we simply try to get from point A to point D, we fail to adequately address the needs of our client:  the distressed homeowner. 

Are they anxious?  You bet.  They need consistently reliable information, and hand holding. They need to be fully apprised of the timetables, and the consequences for a successful transaction, as well as a failed transaction.  They need to know where and when they will move, and what resources they will still have.

• the best buyers are qualified retail buyers who want to live in your home, not speculative investors who make lowball offers (even though the seller gets nothing at closing, it is in the sellers' interest to get an offer as close to market value as possible....)
• the lender may accept, reject or ignore a short sale proposal after 45 to 90 days or more
• the lender may agree to forgive the debt which creates an exposure to a tax liability
• the lender may agree to release the mortgage, but still require the seller to pay what is owed
• the lender may approve the short sale, but require the buyer to close within 30 days
• even if the lender approves the short sale, 100 things could go wrong and the home still sold at a foreclosure auction

I've read many posted essays, comments, and questions about preforeclosure short sales on Active Rain...  There are a handful of Groups which I would consider credible, but a disproportionate number whose information offered as 'fact' is more 'fluff' and only partially true... and "they" say a little bit of information can be dangerous. 

Putting aside the commission incentive and need to make a living... let us not forget the distressed (financially and emotionally) homeowners who depend upon our professionalism and expertise to resolve one of the most traumatic experiences a family can endure..... the loss of homeownership to foreclosure.  To reinvent the wheel at the expense of trusting homeowners by agents resorting to servicing the listing by "trial by error" should not be acceptable.

The agent who fails to complete a short sale loses a deal. So what. There will be other deals.  The homeowner whose agent failed loses much more than that.  The house, of course.  Future creditworthiness. Health, and quite possibly, the family as a unit. Or, in extreme cases, life itself. (Tony left a weekend message on my voicemail stating he would kill himself before allowing the lender to take his house.... and days later he was found, dead, at his kitchen table still clutching the eviction notice.  Or the fellow who lost his family (to prison) because they robbed a local bank for funds to pay the Sheriff... but promptly lost it all at a casino....)   

There is more to this technique than mastering the mechanics of a preforeclosure short sale transaction. Our duty is to our Clients, which I believe extends to the successful transition to alternative housing.

A successful short sale transaction is a wonderful thing, but that is another essay.

I know this piece is both disjointed and rambling... but I've got some hands to hold. 

An Ethical Approach to preforeclosure (& short) sales