What Buyers and Buyer’s Agent Should Know About Short Sales

These general suggestion and information for Buyers and Buyer's Agent to know about Short Sales (SS) and this is not meant to be an all inclusive list;

• The Offer is with the Seller and it is Contingent on Lender's Approval
• The Approval Process usually will take from 60 to 90 days so be prepared to wait that long and make an Offer good enough for the wait.
• The Offer should be close to the Market Price the Lender will not Approve an Offer that is too low (why would they if they can get a better net if they foreclose on the home)
• The home will be sold "As Is".
• The foreclosure process does not stop so, let your Buyer know that if they decide to make an offer on multiple homes (really should not be done but, some people are doing it) and "see" which ones comes first or if they decide that to do not want to Buy the SS that they are putting the Seller/Owner at risk for a Foreclosure. The foreclosure would be delayed if they are working on a reasonable Offer but, if the Buyer drops out the home will probably get foreclosed on..
• The Lenders Approval dates are firm there may be per diem charges to the Buyer if they do not close on time.
• The Seller usually will usually have money to bring to closing so the Buyer may need to bear some of it.

There is an attitude out there that it was the Borrower's (Seller's) fault "blame the Borrower" there is plenty of blame to go around as to how we got into the situation we are in now from the International Monetary Fund, to the Rating Agencies, to the Wall Street demand for Mortgage Backed Securities, to Credit Default Swaps, the large and small National and International Banks, Fannie and Freddie, Insurance Companies, the Fed, Loose Lending requirements, Fraud, Little or no Regulations of the Investment Banks, Assumptions that Real Estate will only appreciate, Greed the list goes on and on.