If this is a short sale, then you would have received a counter offer from the seller (homeowner) saying that they accepted your offer but that they sale is subject to the approval of their lender/bank. If your contract says that, then the bank has the final say in the sale of the home and the bank has the right to refuse your offer. Your sales contract is not valid until BOTH the seller and their lender/bank have signed the contract. Expect to wait 60-90 days before you receive an answer. Short sales are no picnic and many do not end in a completed sale.

If a mortgage is current, and there is sufficient equity in a property to clear all liens and deliver clear title, I cannot think of any reason a lender would be able to prohibit a sale.

If the sales price will not pay the lender (and other lienholders) and deliver clear title, the only way to complete the sale is by the lender's agreement to accept an amount "short" of the full amount due. Since this requires the lender's approval, yes, the lender can stop the sale.

If a property is in foreclsoure, the seller and the lender may be negotiating late fees, attorney fees, deadlines, etc. These negotiations can hold up a sale. If there is sufficient funds to pay everything, but the seller is disputing the payoff statement, it's not really the lender prohibiting the sale, but one might look at it that way.

Without more detail from you, one can only speculate......as Sylvia also indicated in her post.

Hi: Are you buying a house that is a short sale or on notice of default or being foreclosed upon? BTW, I also saw your other questions.

If we are talking about offer on a house that's in the above situation, then normal sales process does not work in this situation. Most likely the sellers owe tne lenders more money than they will get from the sale to you, they may or may not be current on their payments, so the sellers will accept your offer just to have a starting point to negotiate with the lenders. For those, the contract is really not binding because the lenders have the right to accept or reject the offer, they may accept another offer that comes in after yours does if the terms are better, etc. They also have the right to stop the proceess and may go ahead and foreclose on the property.

There are just so much more wrinkles when you are talking about short sales, NOD, Foreclosures.

And from your other questions - yes, for a short sale, the lenders can come back and ask for more money.

Although these should all have been explained to you when you made the offer. .

My analysis is only as good as the informaiton I get; which is not muc. So if you can provide more details, the answer will be more accurate.

Sylvia

SELLERS ,THEIR REAL ESTATE AGENT

Bruce,
Are you reffering to your bank or Seller's Bank?

Hi Bruce,
Is this Buyer's Bank or Seller's Bank?