Incompetency or slow to respond is not an excuse. Time is of the essence. I would put a time expiring clause on my contract. "Time is of the essence; Offer expired in 7 business days". I AM THE BUYER, remember? Why should I wait on some incompetent jerks? There are other fishes to catch.

Sun May 11 2008, 07:20

Thank you to everyone for your great answers. They are very helpful.

Thu May 8 2008, 17:56

Steve,

Let's discuss a short sale first. Keeping in mind, lenders are backlogged with many properties that fit into this category, they are slow to respond.

1.) How short are the sellers on paying off the present loan(s)? The closer they are to covering the whole loan(s) the simpler it will be.

2.) Are there multiple loans to be paid off? Is the junior loan the only one needing to be paid short? If there are multiple loans are they from the same lender? Same lender makes the process simpler. (Keep in mind that making payments to the same loan servicer does not mean that they are the same lender. Most loans are sold off on the secondary market and no longer owned by the servicer.) Proceeding to foreclosure wipes out all junior lien holders (lenders.)

3.) How quickly do you want to get into a property? You can make an offer and still keep looking for a different property. Most lenders that I have encountered have wanted to get as many offers as they can to push the price up. The lender might never accept an offer or if they do they can only accept one.

I have had experience with short sales. Once the lender took over 6 months and claimed that they never received the hardship package to proceed on discussing the sale. Now that same house is now in escrow, as a REO listing, for less than was offered 10 months previously on a short sale. There were two loans and a gap of several hundred thousand dollars.

If you choose to go the short sale route, make sure that your agent is on top of the situation and keep looking at other properties.

On an REO (Real Estate Owned) property, the lender already has possession of the property through foreclosure (FC) or deed in lieu of FC. They are working to get this asset off of there balance sheet and are much more motivated to complete a transaction. They have usually hired a local agent, market priced the property and sell the property “as is”. REO transactions move much quicker than a short sale, it is basically two parties coming to an agreement. You should be able to close quickly.

As a buyer or seller, make your choice of an agent your asset.

I wish you the best fortune in locating your dream property.

Warm Regards,

Colleen Low

Thu May 8 2008, 13:05

I've had short sales close in as quick as 48 days and others take up to 90 days. Foreclosures move faster as you are dealing directly with the lender and they want to move inventory. It often takes longer for them to send their paperwork than it does for them to agree to the offer. Until everyone has signed off it isn't considered a fully ratified contract so your agent needs to keep on top of all everything until it is fully ratified.

Thu May 8 2008, 12:22

Hello Steve:
About how long take close a short sale that depends to the bank, in a short sale the seller have the ownership of the house and is trying to negotiate with the bank the sale price, the bank agree to accept less than the loan amount, before the accept a home for short sale condition the owner have to try to sale the property and fill what the bank call as a hardship packgage (the name can be diferent in each bank), the bank can take between 3 to 12 weeks to take the decision if they will accept the buyers offer, sometimes the seller have more than one bank involve and that takes more time to accept the offers.
In a Bank Owned property, the seller is no more involve with the property, at that point the bank have the decision about how much is the house market value. For a bank owned usually takes between 2 to 5 days to accept the offer or not, also depends on the numbers of offer the bank recieve ,but is no exact time neither for a short sale or bank owned to make a decision. At the time the bank accept the offer the time for closing depends if the buyer have all the documents for a mortgage or is cash deal, is a normal closing sale between 2 weeks to 30 days or the time the buyer can close the deal.
For more information you can visit http://shortsalecenter.com
or send me an email at jackie@orlandoareare.com with any other questions

Thu May 8 2008, 12:05

Hey Steve,

There is no time frame for a reo property to close but as a rule of thumb it takes from at least 30 to 90 or even 120 days. The reason for such a delay is because banks are overwhelmed with short sales and foreclosures and are totally backlogged. My suggestions is for your to use a reputable Realtor in your area and be prepared to wait a long time for answers. Good luck.
Leonardo.

Thu May 8 2008, 11:57

I will have to agree with agent Petra Hinter on the answer to this question, with one addition, in my area Reno Nevada, why spend so much time on a short sale property when there are so many foreclosure properties available? If you have enough time to look there are many that do not need more than some TLC, and by hiring the right real estate agent that agent will know the market and properties available
A short sale you may end up with nothing after months of trying. I know of two buyers whom got tired of waiting on the same property after 4 months! Not to mention if you have an interest rate you want to lock!

Thu May 8 2008, 11:49

On a short-sale, the average response time from the bank is 60 to 90 days. This can vary depending on whether the bank has any idea that the borrower is attempting to negotiate a short-sale.

If the borrower has already contacted the bank regarding their situation and completed all the necessary paperwork ahead of time, there is a better chance of it being approved and in a timely manner. If not, then it's a roll of the dice.

On a foreclosure/bank-owned property, the response time is much faster. It can take anywhere from 24 horus to two weeks. Typically, it's a few days to a week.

Thu May 8 2008, 11:35

Bank Owned properties typically can close pretty quickly, especially since they are usually vacant. The challenge can be obtaining financing though, because many bank owned properties are not in very good condition. So many lenders won't give you a mortgage for them. The FHA 203k loan is a good way to go when buying a foreclosure that needs work because it enables you to get extra money on top of the purchase price to make repairs and updates. However, you have to be able to find a lender who does that type of loan and also make sure to compare because some lenders charge higher interest rates and fees for that type of loan.

I have had bank short sales take 6-8 weeks just to get a response from the bank on an offer, only to find out that they accepted another offer that was higher. Once the bank gets the first offer, that's when they start their internal process of determining if they are willing to do a short sale and how much they want to get for the property. Since banks have so many short sales to deal with, this seems to be a very slow process. During this process, they'll continue to take offers on the property and in the end, they usually will take the highest and best offer. So if you don't have lots of time to wait, for potentially nothing, I would avoid short sales.

Thu May 8 2008, 11:31

This depends very much on who the lender is and, if the house is vacant or not.,...and, of course, what kind of offer you've made. Right now, the banks are overwhelmed with their short sale inventory and the stacks of paperwork are holding up lots of eager buyers, but hang in there, the banks don't want to own any more real estate than they already have, so the sale should happen! In GA, we're running 60days....

Thu May 8 2008, 11:26