Negotiating The Short Sale

Here I go again! I thought I had learned from the last caper with a short sale.

My client is a first time home buyer and is getting down payment assistance from a State of Florida organization.

We finally found a house that would pass FHA so we made an offer. At $96,000, our offer was 12% below the asking price and after nearly a month of haggling, the bank turned us down.

The bank is clearly losing money on our offer but it will cost them double that to foreclose.

My theory is that with the possiblity of a "bailout", the banks aren't negotiating. It seems like they're waiting to see what they can get from the government before accepting lower offers.

Anyway, we've found another house that may work. It's a short sale!