The going trend in our local market these days seems to be every sale is a short sale or foreclosure. I have done and do quite a bit of both but the short sales are starting to look like an even bigger pain in the rump now than ever. I have had 3 different short sale contracts in the last month that were good contracts with good buyers that we have actually been able to keep holding on for 5 or 6 weeks while we wait on the lender just to have the lender reject the offers and counter back over our list price. I had one house listed at $250,000 and got an offer at $240,000, the bank countered back at $280,000. The buyer walked and 6 weeks later the home was foreclosed on and put on the market at $210,000! Today I got an email from a short sale company that I sometimes use informing me that Ocwen Loan Servicing will no longer negotiate short sales at all. With these kind of practices, it's no wonder so many lenders are bellying up!!