While Short Sales are not new they are certainly more likely to come up now then ever in the past.ย The basis of a Short Sale is that the Owner of the home is either in the beginning of foreclosure OR they have a house that’s value is below what they can sell it for because of a falling market.ย In each case, the owner of the home is essentially trying to sell the house ‘Short’ of what they owe the bank.ย The owner will settle for most any offer and then pass it along to the bank hoping for approval and to be released from their obligation.ย
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A Real Estate Agentย has no idea how much any unaccepted offer that already exists on the houseย isย (and no ability to find out) but in multiple offer situations on a property that is decent, it is clear that the asking priceย would beย the minimum you would put in an offer for.ย The last competitive offer I put in for clients was accepted at $6,000 more than asking price.ย (Not a short sale, a bank owned property!)ย We just never know in competitive offers but we do know going under asking price in this situationย is not a good use of anyone’s time.
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A short of sale offer is submitted to the Seller and is then sent to the bank or mortgage company.ย At that point, the bank can take whatever offer they want, sit on their butt’s and/or wait for a betterย offer or counter whatever offer they want.ย There appear to be no rules, logic or timetable with banks and Short Sales.ย They truly do whatever they feel like with no regard for the buyers.ย They are simply looking at the bottom line.ย Putting a deadline in your purchase agreement is about the same as NOT!ย Banks don’t care about your deadline, they care about theirs.
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The problem is that the Short Sale process is not fair to anyone since the bank simply looks at as many offers as possible at their own speed and selects whatever they like.ย It could be the first, second or thirtieth offer so it isn’t a level playing field.ย IMHO, these Short Sale houses are not really for sale in the traditional sense and are much more trouble and pain then they are worth.ย (And I am well aware of the one or two short sales that get through the process in a relatively timely manner but if you think you’re that lucky, buy a lottery ticket today!)ย ย RW