Short Sales- What You Can Expect

New City, NY

April 12, 2008 that is the first time my friends and clients Bill and Maureen saw there dream home. It was very nice, updated kitchens and baths, partially finished basement, Clarkstown Schools and great neighborhood. We made the offer that same day but I had to explain to them "this is a short sale, you might have to wait for this one".

Fast forward to January 24th 2009. 9 months and 12 days later we get the home inspected after the offer was finally accepted by the seller! Now we have to get the offer accepted by the bank. If we are lucky we can close by the end of May, putting this transaction at over a year long if it even goes through.

Short sales are tricky- here's another example. I had a home listed for $399,000 in Suffern, NY the seller was heading into foreclosure but not there yet. We accepted an offer of $388,000 and submitted it to the banks loss mitigation department where the negotiator looks at the file (sometime in this century if your lucky) then promptly rejects the offer, denying the short sale. 6 months later the home is for sale on the courthouse steps in New City, NY at the foreclosure sale. The home does not sell there either. 3 months later the home is re-listed for $365,000 and sells for $345,000 to the same people that had originally offered $388,000 almost a year earlier.
All totalled the bank loses $43,000 alone on the purchase price plus all legal fees and administrative fees totalling nearly $60,000!

The point I am trying to make here is that while there is a good opportunity for buyers to buy a home via a short sale you must be willing to wait it out and be able to deal with the fact that even after a year your offer could ultimately end up being rejected by the bank's negotiator. It can be a devastating experience or it can be rewarding experience if and a lot of it depends on your realtor. If the listing agent does not have Short Sale experience you can kiss the house goodbye, the deal has very little if any of going through. Your buyers agent must understand how a short sale works and be aggressive in pursuing answers from the bank and/or listing agent.

If you have any questions regarding Short Sales please do not hesitate to email your questions to mailto:rocklandhomefinder@gmail.com

Happy Hunting

Michael Gorham
Innovative Real Estate Solutions
Keller Williams Realty
845-304-9189
http://www.RocklandHomeFinder.com