Ask The Broker. Short Sale Questions of the Week.

Broker Bryant,

I put an offer in for a condo that is for sale 3 doors down from one that I own (a Short Sale).

Once the seller accepted your offer (assuming they signed it) you have a valid contract to purchase the unit. All the lender is being asked to do is accept the short payoff and remove the lien so the transaction can close.

Chase, in my experience, is very slow with making this decision. And they will not be able to give you any information since you are not on the loan or the authorized party who is handling the short sale negotiations.

The previous purchase price of the property and the amount of the existing mortgage really have no baring on anything. The short sale decision will be based on the Fair Market Value (FMV) of the property now and whether or not your agreed purchase price is near FMV .

You can hire a Title Company to run a lien search on the property. They may charge you a couple hundred to do this but it would answer most of your questions. Of course I don't think knowing what liens are on the property is really going to make much difference for you. It is what it is and they will all have to be cleared our before the transaction can close.

Unfortunately, as the buyer, you are pretty much at their mercy when it comes to what information the sellers are willing to share. The agent is not ethically bound to give you the information you seek and may even be forbidden to if they are the agent of the seller.

The lender is not a party to the contract. If the seller has accepted and signed the offer then you are under contract with them not the lender. The contract will outline the time frame for closing. The lender may or may not be able to remove the short sale contingency in time to close as per the contract. If they can't then you will have the option to walk away and get your deposit back or extend the closing date. Questions?

Are you facing foreclosure in Florida?