I hope I am putting this in the right place. We are looking at a home that our agent told us is a "short sale." It is also needing a lot of work like updates but also many repairs. We need to move by the end of November, because our lease is up, and month to month is a 50% rental premium which we really don't want to pay. How does a short sale work? Our agent says it can take longer to close because of the bank. Can we get the house before our lease expires and we are month to month? (Moderation note: Moved to Short Sales and Foreclosures forum.)
In a short sale, the seller is asking the bank to let you receive clear title even if there is no enough money in the transaction to pay off the loan balance.
Good Wife, You need to talk to your agent and really press the fact that your lease end is rushing at you. Short sales are famous for taking a long time to close, maybe several months, and there is little your agent can do to force a quick closing.
I was told that the short sale bank can ignore the contract and pick another contract if they like it better. Is it true?
Think how much money the bank is losing on the short sale. They don't have to allow the short sale at all. Buyers are smart to be careful about getting into a short sale, in my opinion. We did a short sale in Cary, and I know it had to be a nightmare for the buyers who finally got our home. It took 5 months, too.
Ouch. 5 months to sell a house. How do people plan their lives? And so the bank is losing money in a short sale. Shouldn't a contract be a contract?
My brother and his wife were hung out for 7 months, on a short sale that never closed. The bank foreclosed on the house while they were waiting and they wasted all that time. This was in 2009 but I wouldn't go near one today.
Worse yet, they were paying extra month-to-month rent for the last 4 months, and then for 3 more months until they could get a house. $$$$
It really was. And they passed up a few other nice homes that came on the market and sold while they were waiting.
We spoke with a real estate attorney who told us that we could not make solid plans if we try to buy a short sale. The banks are in control of the timing. We will be looking for a home in Raleigh, and we will probably not even consider a short sale. We have small kids and we want a smooth transaction.
I think short sales are getting harder. Banks see that prices have increased and now they are not willing to write off as many losses on short sales. Short sales take just as long as they ever did.
That is what our real estate agent told us. And there seem to be fewer short sales available in Cary. Why bother with short sales when there are good homes on the market without all the drama?
We looked at 5 short sale homes. Maybe it was our budget, but most of them seemed overpriced when we thought how much work, and cash, they needed to be nice.
We got tangled up in a short sale in Apex two years ago for 7 months, and couldn't get it bought. What a circus! My husband says never again, and I agree.