Are You Thinking of Buying a Short Sale?

Are you thinking of buying a home and wondered why so many people have told you to steer clear of short-sales? Well, there are a number of reasons why you could have been told this by a friend or co-worker, but here are the main ones: all sales and terms need bank approval in addition to the sellers approval, the process is long and tiresome, banks are ill-prepared for the short-sales they are dealing with, and you never know if the bank will approve your offer. 1. Bank approval is required: often times, the seller doesnt care at this point " it is hard enough to get them to do what is needed for the short-sale, but then you need to get bank approval. Every aspect of the deal must be approved by the bank. The seller is the gatekeeper and the bank is the decision-maker, however they are not working together. 2. The bank takes a long time: Short-sales range from 2-6 months to get an approval. The problem with this is that many buyers that are actively looking for a home want to be secure that they have a home and they want it now. While they are waiting for a short-sale to get approved, it is quite common for them to find another property that is not a short-sale and purchase it. This causes issues for the seller and the bank when one buyer drops out and they need to find another, which usually further increases the sale process. 3. Banks are ill-prepared: very few banks prepared for the onslaught of short-sales that have been sent their way. If they saw it coming, they probably wouldnt have written bad loans They are testing out new systems, hiring & training new personnel and sorely understaffed in many cases. When you submit a perfect short-sale package with an offer, you still have a line to wait in for months in some cases before they work on your file. 4. The bank may not approve your offer: at least of all short-sales submitted do not get approved and the home is foreclosed on. This can be for a myriad of reasons. The bank may think that the home is worth more than the offer price. Maybe the short-sale negotiator or realtor handling the short-sale is horribly unorganized and unable to work with the bank, who may be just as unorganized. Whatever the case may be in each instance, there is the uncertainty that you could be waiting all this time and not getting the home at all. For this reason, some buyers move on to a sellable property prior to obtaining an answer from the bank. In summary, there are many reasons why buyers (and some realtors) simply stay away from short-sales altogether. It is a long and cumbersome process that is uncertain to yield the hoped for result. So if you are thinking of buying or selling a short-sale, make sure to have the right professionals doing the job for you. Ask for a list of their recent short-sale successes and failures " and ask for referrals. To view all San Diego homes for sale, click on Adam's website. You will also find recent trends and market data, as well as local and school links.