Everyone's heard the horror stories - Short Sales are iffy, 50% get denied, etc.  And yes, they are iffy.  But when you can make them work, it's the best thing for everyone. 

The sellers don't get foreclosed on.  The buyers get a bit of a deal.  The one thing you absolutely have to have if you are considering selling or buying a short sale - patience, lots of it.  They are not fast.  In fact, they are notoriously long.  Dont' think weeks, think months.

Some recent examples:

1.  Buyers come into town to find a great fixer upper to get ready for the Fall for their kids to move here to go to college.  We find a great house with lots of room and a great price though it needs a ton of work.  We make an offer on the short sale. It's late February.  Months go by as the file is processed.  It's June now - the bank tells us they promise they will have it reviewed and approved by the end of June.  3 times they promise us this.  We schedule our appraisal and inspection, and to be safe, a closing for mid-July.  2 weeks before our closing date they decide to do yet another appraisal (the 3rd so far) to double/triple check the value.  On our closing date - they claim they still haven't even gotten the appraisal turned in and can't review it and can't close.  So we don't close.  The approval is finally in and we are set to close on August 1st.  5 months later! Due to the length of time, the sellers credit is still ruined but at least not foreclosed.

2. Seller refi'd her heart out and is upside down on a home built new in an old area.  It'd be worth that in an area conforming to the style of her house, but not where it is.  To make the effort, we list it high enough to avoid short, with a few shows but  no nibbles.  After discussing the options, the seller says we got to get it sold - short it is.  So we price it for the market.  Within 2 weeks, we have 3 offers.  Packet is sent off.  After only 3 weeks, the bank gets back to us with a counter-offer.  We submit that and lose 2 of our buyers.  The lowest bidder comes back way under where the previous top was.  We submit and keep holding out.  Within 1 week of the counter, we have 7 offers on the property.  Within 3 days of submitting those to the bank, we had an approval letter!! We're scheduled to close on the top offer in the middle of August.  From short sale pricing to approval - in less than 2 months! Seller's credit is saved and she can move on with her life!

The difference in these two scenarios - the lender for the seller.  Scenario one involves getting an approval from Wells Fargo - as easy as getting Congress to agree on something.  The second involves Citifinancial - the most pleasant and wonderful loss mitigation team ever. 

Both buyers got a great deal on a house, both sellers avoided a foreclosure on their record! 

Just remember - if you want a deal - the easiest route is foreclosed properties.  Short sales can work - but you need patience and flexibility.  I had a total of 10 offers on that 2nd scenario.  That means that 9 buyers got told to go find another home. 

Think you qualify to sell short?  Interested in picking up a foreclosure special?  Drop me an email and see what we can do for you!  sheree@ksgreathomes.com