What a mess these short sales are?  There hard for the home owner and they are hard for the real estate agents involved.  Home owners must leave the home they love or at least are familiar with and then how will they deal with the financials?  If they sell for less than the current mortgage amount, the mortgage company will send them a 1099 for the difference.  That's right they are still taxed on that difference.  and the IRS will want to get paid.  Something I was just told is a tax bill from the IRS is not wiped out by a bankruptcy...hmmmm.  what a mess.  

Now the banks are getting help from the Government.  Will the banks receive a 1099 or equivalent from the IRS and owe back taxes?  

It is concerning when a bank has an offer on a property they sometimes don't respond for 2 weeks to 2 months.  How can they sit around with a bad debt for 2 months?  Then expect the gov't to bail them out?  The banks also ask the agents to cut their commission.  What responsibility do the banks have?   Why are they not working around the clock to get these transactions closed?