I tend to work heavily with short sales both as a buyer and sellers agent. I think today you can get a better deal on a short sale than you can on a foreclosure. When a foreclosure comes on the market priced right almost everyone will bid on it (except those that believe it is stigmatized) and the price will be driven up. A short sale will have fewer buyers considering it because not everyone can wait 45 days to 6 months to get an answer. Yes, I have had two short sales take 6 months and heard horror stories of others taking 10 months.
When making an offer on a short sale, understand the bank is going to send out an appraiser or another disinterested agent to give them an opinion on the true value of the property. It is imperative these individuals go into the property to determine price. I have a property listed today at $500,000 that was appraised at $860,000 in Jan. of 2008 with a drive-by. If anyone had walked inside they would have realized this property was not worth that kind of money. There was so much work left to do. In the process of doing the short sale the bank again sent someone to ‘drive-by’ and give them an opinion of the price and they came back with $560,000. If the property is listed at $500,000 and I can’t sell it for that how is the value $560,000? Now the bank has sent someone out to actually step foot inside to give them a real idea.
All of these little steps take time. I love when buyer’s say, “I am going to pull my offer if I don’t get an answer by Tuesday.” The banks don’t care. You can’t threaten them. You can’t motivate them. I have had success one time motivating a bank to give us an answer. My buyer had two offers out and her second choice came back and accepted her offer. We called the listing agent on her first choice (who had said they should have an answer within a week) and told them the situation. They were able to get an answer back within 2 days that they would accept the offer.
When it comes to short sales you must be patient and work with a good agent who knows the short sale process.
