Short Sales

Such the buzz word in today's Real Estate market-- and with good reason.  Since they are opportunities in which the seller is selling his house for less than he owes, you are getting the price, in most cases, for less than what they paid, which is unfortunately the way the economy sits now.  (In some cases, the seller over-leveraged themselves with a 2nd mortgage or line of credit, but a lot of cases are due to the decline of property value.)  Some notes on some short sales I'm working with- GMAC seems to have their "act" together.. about a month after submitting the offer, (along with ALL the necessary paperwork), we were assigned a negotiator, and within a week they had ordered the "BPO"- Broker Price Opinion, which helps the lienholder determine approximate value for the neighborhood.  A month- seems like a long time to some, but I'm doing dances with the listing agent!!  Now Bank of America, on the otherhand, kindof makes me want to jump off the Dames Point.  Approximately 80-90 days in FINALLY a negotiator, and after just under a month, he's finally "looking at the file".  I'm sure one day he'll order a BPO, and maybe in 2010, he'll decide to accept or reject the offer.  Please please let the buyers still want the house after waiting probably 6-7 months for an answer!  Had another one- offer to close in about 60 days.  Just wrote another offer for some folks and Chase has the 1st lien.. Fingers crossed & toes crossed, its going to be a LONG few months!!  I've read that there is around 30-40 negotiators per bank, and they review about 20-30 files a day- no wonder they are always so short with us Realtors who call in!  Not an easy process, but if all goes well, price wise- worth the wait!!