Short Sales are meant to be anything less than short, right? Most short sale specialists will tell you that it can take 90 - 180 days to close a short sale. My experience puts it at about 90-120 days, considering the 1st offer goes well. Well, I left off in my previous post about us (the seller side) obtaining short sale approval from the lender in roughly 3 weeks time and ready to close. Keep in mind the Sheriff Sale was scheduled to occur 3 days prior. Yes, we sent in a request and received an extension to the Sheriff Sale.
Now we are at the closing day and the lender for the buyer rejects the loan. The lender (not being named though I have never had success with a deal when this lender is involved) wanted a list of repairs completed even though it was a conventional loan with 20% down. The home needed work but everything was functioning and there was not any known water leaks, etc...
Basically, that killed the deal. Back to square 1. I asked a local short sale expert the likelihood that I can get the lender to approve another offer significantly lower than the previous offer and close it prior to extended Sheriff Sale date (I felt a Sheriff Sale stay a 2nd time was out of the question). He said little chance. Regardless, I contacted every investor and agent I knew and price adjusted where I knew a cash offer would come in. We received one with a 2 week closing date.
At this point I kept in close touch with the negotiator and submitted the revised offer. After a little back and forth (and an itemized list of repairs and costs detailing this property will not qualify for financing), the short sale lender was convinced and took the lower offer. We closed the next week. Lender gets this off the books. Seller moves on with their lives and focuses on the future, buyer gets a good deal, we get paid!
Moral of the story - Just because something isn't the norm, it doesn't mean it can not be done. And since the odds were against us on this one, it made the effort and result worth it!
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