When it comes to short sale......

Hi Michelle,

That is a hard one.  I had one where the Buyer asked for closing assistance (and put the amount in the purchase price).  The bank agreed to the price with the closing help, but they only agreed to pay the commissions on the sales price without the closing help.  So that involved our getting the brokers involved in the situation.  Fortunately our we worked for the same firm (two different offices) and while my Manager was willing the other Manager wasn't.  We shared the same Regional VP and he was able to fix the situation so that we were able to move forward.

Looks looks not so easy. Short sale is difficult in itself, adding buyer, who needs down payment assistance does not help.

It is a tough one.

I have had two short sales where there was closing cost assistance provided to the buyer.  The trick was that the agent offered more than list price to compensate for some of the closing costs.  A lot is going to depend on the bank.  You can't low ball on an offer and expect that they will also pay closing costs.  I'm waiting to hear back from on a third listing and we have two offers.  Both are for full price but one is asking for closing costs and the other isn't.  No guess work as to which one the bank is going to accept.  The better net!

In a multiple offer situation, you will lose every time. I've seen banks pay for closing costs but they tow the line at the down payment. I just went back through 12 offers I had written -- all at least 7 to 10% over list price on REOs -- and each of them sold without concessions or for cash, at similar pricing.