Yes and no. The time saved is the close of escrow time not the approval time.
Assume a lender approval process will take Y # of days. But you state in your contract COE is 14 days.
It will give you an edge.
The primarily factor is the offering price....

Generally, no. The process largely depends on the seller's lender(s) internal processes and workload. The fact that you would like to pay all cash makes your offer much stronger, but won't speed the process up any more than usual.
Best regards,
-Bart
------------------------------------------------------------
Bart Marchioni, Certified Short Sale Specialist
Vice President & Co-Founder
Short Sale Solutions Group, Inc.
267 E. Campbell Ave, Suite 200
Campbell, CA 95008
408-457-6700 Main
408-266-3100 Direct http://www.3SGInc.com

Hi T Chambers,
It all depends on where the listed home is in the cycle ie: has the short sale been approved? have they sent an offer into the bank already and has it been assigned a negotiator? How experienced is the listing agent? These are some of the questions that need to be answered, having a good buyers agent who has delt with short sales and there pit falls will save you from a lot of grief. Your all cash offer will speed things up IF the bank has an assigned negotiator to look at your offer, otherwise it could take about 2-3 months, not 6 months. I have found in recent purchases of Sort Sales that the banks are moving a bit faster than they were earlier.
If you need an experienced Short Sale/REO buyers agents assistance in locating the home that your all cash offer will influence feel free to contact me. You can also log onto my web site and put in your own search( see below).

Regards,
Allyson
408-705-6578
allyson@homesbyallyson.com

Hi T Chambers,

A cash offer can definately speed the process up in the right situation. Some short sales will not even be approved. Some lenders take 3+ months for an approval and some less than a month. The listing agent can have a large influence on how quickly things move. Your buyers agent can help by finding the properties that have the right ingredients for a quick turn around.

This is what I specialize in. To find a great deal and secure the purchase you need a diligent broker to sort through the mess and find the golden eggs.

If you are interested in finding these properties visit: http://www.jamessellsthebay.com/bargainhunter.asp
to get started!

"I turn your first-time home dreams into reality!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
James Peterson..........................................................Phn: 408.836.9653
Keller Williams SV .......................................................Fax: 408.540.1781
2110 S. Bascom Ave................mailto:james@jamessellsthebay.com
Campbell, CA 95008........................http://www.jamessellsthebay.com
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All cash, or substantial cash, can help the likelihood of your offer being chosen over others but will not necessarily shorten the process. You can lengthen the process if you do not provide adequate information up front on your ability to close. Typically they will want to see aged balances in your bank account, or, if recently deposited, proof of where the money came from. This should be submitted with the offer to the lender.

It could possibly....but most lenders take the offers and review them as they come in, in that order (if there are multiple offers).
Otherwise, in general nothing expedites a short sale other than communication and diligence. That is why it can be such a frustrating process. But if the seller or the seller's agent has a good contact and open line of communication with the lender(s) it could move quickly and smoothly.
If I can help, drop me an email (I work and live in Hollister).

Interesting question. I have not had an all cash buyer, but a lot of the time spent on the process is on the banks end of which you have no real control over. They need to get all info requested from seller, appraisal info, and are working on 100s of files. The bank might not even know they had an all cash offer until they reviewed the file which could easily be a month in itself. If the short sale has already been approved then you can close in approx 30 days with a standard loan and most likely faster with cash. Get inspections, check comps, etc and don't rush yourself.

Glen
Broker
408-497-1838