How To Take One Month Off of the Time it Takes a Northern Virginia Short Sale to Get to Closing

How to Take One Month Off of the Time it Takes a Northern Virginia Short Sale to Get to Closing

Being a Northern Virginia Short Sale Agent, I am genuinely interested in time frames, like: 

How long does it take a Northern Virginia Short Sale to get approved? 

How long does it take a Northern Virginia Short Sale to get from contract to closing?

I ran those very stats in the links above, on my own Short Sale Listings that go back to the fall of 2007, in May 2011.  Two months later, and four more Short Sales having closed and two more approved, the numbers are only increased by one day in each category.  They now stand at an average of 59 days to get a Northern Virginia Short Sale, listed by me, from the date of contract to approval.  And it's an average of 86 days to get one of my Northern Virginia Short Sales from contract to closing.

So how can you take a month off the time it takes to get one of these Short Sales from contract to closing?  Noticing that the difference in contract to close and contract to approval dates is 27 days, that tells you a lot about what a BUYER can do to shave time off of the process. 

Generally, in Northern Virginia, a Short Sale Buyer will not have the time frames for home inspection or financing approval (including appraisal) kick in until Short Sale Approval.  So being about two months into the process already, a Buyer that opts to delay those events also delays their own settlement.  In my Short Sales, it takes a Buyer an average of 27 days to complete these tasks and get to settlement.  Some take longer, some take less time.  But the only way to guarantee that you can settle when that Short Sale Approval letter comes to fruition is to have already completed your home inspection, appraisal and have the financing ready to go.

It's definitely an outside the box thought process, but well worth it to a Buyer who may be avoiding great homes simply because they believe Northern Virginia Short Sales take too long.  Some Short Sales do take a long time, but a well versed Buyer's Agent will be able to match a Buyer to a great Northern Virginia Short Sale opportunity that is more likely to close than not.  And when that happens, shaving time off the process is not just in the hands of the Short Sale Listing Agent or Sellers.  Buyers have some control over how quickly the Northern Virginia Short Sale will close and it is all centered around when those inspection and financing time frames kick in.  If you pick Ratification and not Short Sale Approval, you are shaving off a month from the entire process.

 

 

Chris Ann Cleland, Associate Broker- Licensed in Virginia, GRI, SFR, Northern Virginia Short Sale Specialist. Affiliated with Long & Foster, 7526 Limestone Drive, Gainesville, VA 20155.  To contact Chris Ann, call 703-402-0037 or email chrisann@LNF.com.  Or you can visit her website:  www.nvarealestate.net.

Header is a combination of photos, taken by Chris Ann Cleland, of various listings and neighborhoods in the Bristow-Gainesville-Haymarket area.