Short Sales Can Be Closed!!

I closed my first short sale today. Short sales can get a bad rap. When I started in real estate last year, I didn't want to touch a short sale with a 10 foot pole, but as I learned more about them, I have become more comfortable in dealing with them. A short sale for those of you who do not know is a pre-foreclosure. The owner is starting to get behind on payments, but the lender has not taken it back yet. The owner tries to sell the house, but cannot sell for enough to pay off their mortgage. They are upside down or "under water" as President Obama has termed. When this happens, however, the offer has to go to that lender for approval. That process can take a LONG time. Many buyers do not want to wait for these sales. They may get a great deal, but for whatever reason don't want to wait to hear from the lender. When the contract is written a buyer can state that they will only wait a certain number of days and then can walk away, but if they walk away prior to that time, they can and will lose earnest money which many do not realize. There is also the potential of short sale offers to be outbid as they can accept other offers unless written in the contract to only accept back up offers. In the case of this deal, we got approval by the short sale lender in about 5 weeks. Our total time from offer to close was 60 days. Not too bad. I have 2 other contracts in on short sales and we will see how long they take. I have found the best way to get it through is good communication on all sides. I am excited to get this deal closed, it was rough around the edges, but in the end it closed smoothly and my new homeowners are excited to get in and make it their own.