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Since November 2009
Since September 2009
A short sale is when the seller owes more than what the property is currently worth and asking the lien holders to forgive the debt that they are short on. An example: Let's say a property is worth 400,000 in this current market but the sellers bought it 3 years ago for 500,000. If the sellers got it into contract for 400,000 they would be asking the lenders to forgive the approximate 100,000 debt.
These deals can take anywhere from 45-90 days sometimes as long as the price is realistic and the listing has been aproved by an agent experienced in this complex transaction. It also depends where they are at in the process. Once an offer is chosen it is submitted to the bank for their approval. So everything is contingent on the banks decision.
Keep in mind a lot of these listings are grossly underpriced and completely unrealistic and usually if its too good to be true it usually is. You can still get a property at a good deal but some are just way underpriced.
Some agents are grossly underpricing them trying to get a bidding war going on so they can get the price inflated through a bidding process with multiple offers and a lot of times they have been sent to the bank when they are still rediculously underpriced offers. Then the bank will counter a large amount back and then the deal cannot be done.
I wouldnt stear away from these since you can still get a good deal and there's a large amount of short sales in our market today. Keep in mind when putting an offer in always base your offer off of recent sold comparable properties not the list price (unless its priced right) and be willing to hold out while you're continuing to look around.
I do a lot of these deals and they are being done there's just a lot more home work involved and not to mention time. So you can get a good deal and I do think you should definitly try on short sales. If not you're missing out on way too many properties.
Good luck!
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Short Sale
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