Hi Kara!
Congratulations and I hope your offer goes through all the red tape that short sales present to the seller, buyer and agent. It is a frustrating process but they do close.

My colleagues below have given you good advice. The bank will not talk with non-authorized persons.
Be patient! You'll know you're almost there when the lender orders a final BPO and asks for and receives a preliminary HUD 1. And, even after those steps are completed it can take an additional 3 to 6 weeks for a final approval.

Good Luck!

I agree with all the previous posts and also have one more thing to add- patience is a virtue for sure in short sales. I would only contact the listing agent every 2-3 weeks as agents who do short sales are in a waiting game too, calling the agent daily will not solve anything and will only make them feel frustrated that they have no answers for you. I tell all buyers and buyers agents on short sales that they will hear from me every two weeks until I get an answer but rest assured I will follow up with the lender as much as possible. Calling the lender too much will cause you to be moved to the bottom of their list and only delay the process.
If you need to move quickly, consider a bank owned foreclosure where you can expect an answer to your offer usually in 48 hours or less.
Hope that help!

Hi Kara!

Unfortunately you may not contact the bank about this sale. The sellers of the property are the ones to give authorization to the bank as to whom they will authorize to discuss their transaction. Understand that there is confidential information that cannot be disclosed. On the other hand, the seller’s agent should keep you up to date on what is happening if you do not have a Realtor representing you and your interests. Short sales are complicated and require much skill on the part of the Realtors and patience from all parties involved. Talk to your Realtor if you have one.
My best to you!

Alicia Lammersdorf
Illustrated Properties
Short Sales Specialits
BA/ABR/GRI/TRC/SSS
561-809-8328 http://www.ILoveBoca.com

First of all congradulations. It would be best to contact your agent and have them find out the status. Any questions or concerns you may have you can present to your agent who can find out from the sellers agent or bank.

No, you can not. for anyone to speak with the loss mitigation department at the bank must have a letter of authorization. Also, to the best of my knowledge ( I process many short sales for my clients as a listing agent) a bank will only entertain one offer at a time. Find out if your offer is the one that was presented.

You can call but you won't get information since there is no third party authorization from the seller to you.
You have to trust your Realtor and the Listing (Sellers) Realtor to do their job.

Question to ask:
Which lender?
Has the BPO been order?
Has the BPO been done?
Has a negotiator been assigned?
Any expectation for Short Sale approval date? ( could be do not know, which is very true)

Dont ask all at one time, once the first one has been answer, then ask the next one.

Also, be ready because once the approval is done, ussually it needs to close in 30 days.

Realtor hand out
http://www.realtor.org/rmosales_and_marketing/handoutsforcus…

You should call your agent who wrote the contract for you. The banks are swamped with many houses in default and your agent should be able to best be able to contact the correct loan office. The bank considers several offers and chooses the best one, which is not always the lowest. They usually prefer offers where the buyer will occupy the property rather than investors. Please let me know if I can be of service or help you in any way. JudySalesHouses.com

No.

You have no standing with the bank. Your offer was to the seller. The seller has the relationship with the bank, so the seller (or the seller's agent) is the one to check with the bank. The bank won't even speak to you--privacy regulations. Ask your Realtor to stay in regular contact with the listing agent to find out the status of your offer.

By the way, if you "just put an offer in," you could end up waiting a while. Lots of short sales take 2-4 months or longer--6 months isn't all that unusual. Your Realtor can provide more details.