NHnewbie, YES they can take at least that long. There are no short cuts, there is no way to speed up the bank in making a decision and there is no easy way comfort the emotional mess that often results. There are ways to lessen the hastle, the first is by having a buyer broker is is very experienced in completing short sales as well as a listing agent who is very experienced in completing short sales. The truth is not every agent can do a short sale, you have to have nerves of steel, lots of time to make daily calls lasting at leats an hour each and every day and the know how and a existing relationship with asset managers, processors and negotiators. As a buyer the first question you need to ask is: Is this short sale approved: If yes ask for proof. If not there are many steps, the first is the seller has to be approved to even enter into a short sale, the second is when they are approved financially then teh property needs to be appraised and a price set that the bank WILL accept. You can not just throw out a price and think the bank will automatically accept it. I see it all the time as people price the house half of what they owe, this is never going to work. Lastly as a buyer you have to have patience, teh ability to wait up to 6 months for an answer and in your offer be willing to not place any contingincies. The best way to kill a short sale is have it contingent upon everything under the sun, home inspetion, mortgage and the seller completing or paying for repairs. You will need to have someone walk through the house prior to making your initial bid and make any repairs or problems part of your initial offer, there is no renegotaiting after the bank accepts a price and then you want to have a home inspection, it doesnt work that way. Your best bet is to look at properties already taken over the bank. With my bank owned properties i can get an answer on an offer in 24 hours in most cases. Good luck with your search..

NHNewbie, short sales really can take that long, and please keep in mind that the listing will remain active all that time, in hopes of receiving multiple offers on the property. It may help if you are pre-approved with the same lender that you'll be negotiating with, but even then, the short sale process is long and requires much patience from everyone involved. What I find frustrating with short sales is the enormous waiting time that the bank forces everyone to deal with, then when they have accepted an agreement, everything is rush rush rush and they demand that inspections, commitment and closing is done at warp speed and on their terms.

If you are serious about wanting to buy property (and if you are hoping to take advantage of the 8K tax credit which requires that you close prior to December 1, 2009) your Buyer's Agent has probably recommended that you continue looking at property. There are many sellers who will be easier to work with than a bank, and more likely to negotiate things like repairs or inspection items. Of course if this is a fantastic deal, the best thing may be to take a deep breath and be prepared to wait wait wait, then hurry, hurry hurry. I wish you all the best with your purchase!

Valerie Cloutier, Realtor®
MA & NH Real Estate Services
Accredited Buyer Representative
e-PRO Certified 2008

603-965-5197 Cell
Valerie@SNHhome.com

Hi NH Newbie,

Short sales? Why yes, they are a nightmare. The upside is that you may get a house for less money than it would have cost you last year, the downside is that the savings you will enjoy you will earn by sweating out the delays and lack of emotion on the part of the seller/lender.

If you want to speed up the process, two options come to mind. Offer a bonus to the seller/lender if they can close in record time. Or you could potentially withdraw from that transaction/offer and focus on looking only at property being offered in the traditional manner (non-short sale).

Good luck,

Dane Hahn
Real Estate Professional in NH and FL

Short sales, and bank foreclosures ALWAYS drama, we recommend for any of our clients keep looking till they have keys and title transferred in their hands, offically theirs.

National Featured Realtor and Consultant, Mortgage Loan Officer, Credit Repair Lecturer
Lynn911

Nhnewbie,

It's for real................as a matter of fact, many people would regard 90 days as "rocket speed" with this type of transaction.

Seriously, if you are fortunate enough to be involved in a "short sale" in which the sellers have been responsible by taking care of things in advance, it could be shortened greatly....have they been working with the bank for a while, have they taken care of necessary paperwork properly, have the filed their letter of hardship, has the bank assigned a mitigator, has the bank agreed on a sale price???

As a response to, "are short sales always a nightmare".........our reaction is, most of the time this is the case...let's hope you are going to be one of those exceptions.

Good luck