With more and more of these short sales flooding the market, we as agent's have to prepared to handle them when our buyer stumbles across one of them in which they would like to place an offer. Some of these tips will help to make the sale go somewhat smoother and help to protect and possibly save your buyer some money.
Inform buyer it may be timely: Let me say that again; Inform your buyer these transactions are likely to be timely. This is something you want to let them know right up front, and inform them that if the need to be in a property by a certain date, buying a short sale may not be a route they want to take.
Pre-approved: Make sure your buyer is pre-approved when placing an offer or writing a contract on a short sale before you send the offer or contract over. Also If your buyer is cash, have them get a recent bank statement from their bank (cross out the account number and important information) and submit this statement with the offer or contract. Some of the banks may require your buyer be pre-approved through their bank. Understand this does not mean your buyer must use this bank for the mortgage, but that bank wants to make sure right off the bat that your buyer will be able to qualify for a mortgage to purchase the short sale.
Build in a time frame: I would suggest when writing a contract on a short sale that you build in a date in which the bank has to respond to your buyer by. If they do not give you a response by that day, this allows your buyer to cancel the contract and proceed with something else.
Delay Inspection periods: I would also suggest you build into your contract that you want all inspection periods delayed until you receive approval from the bank, and at this time inspection periods would begin, rather than the normal inspection period beginning conclusion of Attorney review.
Prepare a "net sheet": With sending along your contract, get a title company you work closely with to prepare a settlement sheet so the bank can get a rough idea after all closing costs what they will be "netting."
Expect Commissions negotiations: When the bank is cutting its losses, the first thing they are going to try to negotiate is going to be the agent's commission. This is why when listing a short sale; I always suggest trying to list it originally at the highest commission allowed.
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