You guys are so correct if you are trying to do Short Sales by yourself. It wastes a lot of time, energy, money (time is money), only too get shot down in your prime by bank mitigators. Been there done that.

Our Short Sale team is averaging closes between 80 and 110 days a few are faster, but most all fall within that range. It is very consistent for us. We are also closing on 78% of them. The only ones we are not able to close on has always been with smaller lenders who can't see the justification in taking such a large financial hit. With the large lenders they get it but it takes our legal team to get that through to them.

I will not do the negotiations or will I ever use a Realtor again. I leave that to our partners who are professionals at negotiating, and they Kick Butt at it. All I do now is gather the paperwork, turn it over to them, and let them jump on it. Since we systematized our process the process is less of a headache, less time consuming, we close more deals, and they are fall consistently fall within the same time frame for closing. When I need extra money I simply find an extra Short Sale to do and run it through our process. This is more about freedom for me than massive mulla, I now have time for my passions - coaching tennis and missions.

Main point is do not try to do it all yourself work with partners, focus on what You do best, and let each partner do like wise. Ex. Realtors are the marketing specialist for your RE, let them do their job and market the property, not do the negotiations, etc.

HOW LONG DOES A SHORT SALE TAKE?

Arline, the short answer is, "it depends".

It depends on the bank (or banks), the loss mitigation officer (or officers if there is more than one lender involved), the listing agent, the sellers situation, the mortgage investors, and apparently other completely random and uncontrollable factors.

I've seen them closed in as little as 5 weeks and as long as nine months. And of course a significant percentage never close at all.

If you are considering buying a short sale you must have the patience of a saint. Not many people can tolerate waiting 3, 4, or six months to hear from a bank "No thanks" on their offer. (Well, you'd be very lucky if you heard the word "thanks" from the bank, but you get my point).

With so many homes on the market, to be honest I don't know why anyone even considers purchasing a short sale.

I read an interesting article in the USA Today recently which said that approximately 23% of short sales make it to the closing table, so good luck. You should have an experienced agent that knows the ins and outs of the short sale and my best advice would be to pray a lot. I currently have two contracts on short sales and there is no end in sight. You should expect the bank to never have all the paperwork as it seems that they are always in need of just "one more document" to make the deal work. Also, please make sure if you're the seller that you contact the bank prior to setting a price on your property. This will make things a little easier in the long run. I have seen home owners set ridiculously low prices on their properties in order to start a bidding war and then the bank winds up taking months and buyers will eventually get tired of waiting. Stop and think about taking months to hear from the bank and then think of all the potentially great deals that are getting away while you wait. Tread carefully my friend.

Hi Arline-

Most short sales take between 60-120 days depending on the lender. Some banks are harder to work with than others which can also lengthen the time line. Another consideration is the training or experience of your real estate agent. It is not unusual to hear of short sales taking six months or longer.

I should have noted "if you are lucky"

2 months to NEVER....it really depends on a variety of factors....but in general, expect to take about 2-3 months total.

Not sure if you are selling or buying a shortsale, but either way plan on 3 to 6 months.