the prior poster does not understand that the buyers agent has no standing in the deal as regards the sellers lender and cannot make the sellers lender do ANYTHING. In fact the buyers agent will have NO contact with the Loss Mitigator at all. If you think that getting chesty and making threats to back out will impress them, i got news for you...they don't care. the loss mitigators are up to their armpits in files from dozens of states. Short sales are best left to buyers who have no real time demands...most buyers simply cannot wait around while the file gets dealt with at the lenders pace. These deals are famous for frustration, delays, misplaced files, reassigned files, turndowns after six weeks, etc. The seller also has no say in the pace of the deal and so cannot agree to any timeline you might have i mind.

Only those properties that are truly unique are worth the torment in my opinion. the prior poster is correct though in his remark that there are plentiful other homes to make a run at...just be ready for most of them to be "Shorts" too.

I think they are playing you. How interesting that the $100K pays off their mortgage. Take a deep breath and let them "stew in their juices". Be willing to lose it. Flex your buyer muscles! All the Best. Liz

are they asking you to counteroffer your own offer? sounds like BS to me.

your agent needs to get a spine and find out if your offer has even been presented to the short sale lender.

Stephani: "Short sales" are a pain. Everything is a guessing game. This would be the situation. A desperate Seller calls a Real Estate Agent and tells him/her their home/condo is worth less than their mortgage amount. Also, the interest rate is adjusting and they will not be able to afford the future payment. They want to do a short sale to "preserve their credit". The agent gets together with the Seller, suggests an asking price, the Seller says OK and the agent puts the property in the Multiple Listing Service. In the meantime, the Seller has to prove to the Lender that they don't have any savings, investments, etc. and they are basically broke and they have to offer proof of it. Now, an offer comes for the property (your offer). The Agent needs to notify the Lender that there is an offer on the property. The Bank, if they are organized (and they are not), send for a BPO (Brokers Price Opinion) and if the offer is too low they will say no after many weeks. So, making offers in short sales is never a sure thing. I have a Buyer with 3 offers on 3 different short sales and neither has answered in a few weeks. My mentality, the first Lender that accepts the offer gets my Buyer. In the meantime, higher offers may come like in your case. Usually agents will not lie about having another offer; it would be highly unethical. If the Agent says they have a much better offer than yours (like $ 100,000) more, it would be a loss of time for the Bank to counter your offer. A better deal is going after Bank owned properties. Banks are faster to answer; sometimes in as little as two days. Also, another alternative would be to go to the steps of the courthouse where the auction will take place and make your offer. Of course, you have to be prepared for that, have a cashier's check ready and a letter of preaproval from the Bank. Of course you need an experienced agent to help you out.

thank you Mike, So I think we will wait them out. Let them "stew in their own juices" as Liz Stephens said. We have all the time in the world. We plan on renting out our condo, so we do not have any contingencies there. Mike~ this property is very special and worth the wait, I just wish they would give us a counter or a firm "no" so we can stop hoping. We are still continuing to look for properties though. Our agent is doing his part, there is only so much they can do with shorts. Thanks Everyone!!! :)

There's so many homes out there, bigger, better, and lower. Your agent is not doing his job. He is supposed to negotiate for the quick sale. Tell your agent if the seller won't accept your offer, you will back out and look for a better and cheaper and no hassle homes. You have the money, you have a good credit that lender should treat you like a golden egg. It's hard to sell homes nowadays.

Thank you for all your responses. Yes, we do have an agent, his name is Darren Rysedorph. He made our offer to the bank on Feb 11th. And on Feb 25th, the bank's agent responded asking if we were willing to match another offer made for $450k ( found out this is 25k more than the first mortgage on the house taken out in 3/07.) Our offer was very low ($330k), but our credit score is over 850, and we have already been approved for a short sale loan. Spring Valley has decreased by 25.5% in the median housing price from this time last year. Is this not a good place to start? $450k-25.5%=$335k for a pre-foreclosure. The lender's agent even told us we were the first to make an offer, and that no other offers were being made. Then magically they got the $450k offer 3 days ofter they informed of of that info. The listing still has not changed to say it has accepted an offer, pending approval...etc.... And the auction on the first mortgage has now been extended a third time to April 3rd. The mortgage first went into default on the 11th of sept, 2007, so it has been on the market almost 6 months now. We are going to be patient on this one, we are in a perfect situation to take our time. Any suggestions on what I can have my agent do in the mean time? I am pretty sure our offer has been presented to the lender. Thank you all once again for your advise.