Hi John,

I concur with Shelly and others comments that as a buyer, a pre-foreclosure/short sale is a much more difficult (if not ominous) option if you are looking for a bargain. The reason short sales don't close at a very high percentage, even with a willing buyer and seller, is because neither the buyer nor seller controls the foreclosure clock.

Our experience is that the clock runs out for the seller before the short sale offer can be negotiated between all the mortgage lien holders. Banks are required by law to follow a specific timetable when a mortgage goes into default and therefore the foreclosure process will overtakes the short sale process more times than not.

You may want to pursue a short sale because it helps out the seller from possible foreclosure and you get a bargain in the process. But the banks don't want to be the only party to lose out financially - they want the seller to feel a level of emotional and financial pain. And when there are multiple lien holders (second mortgage, line of credit, tax lien, etc), the junior liens don't want to give up their stake in the diminishing collateral without a fight. This will drag out the process and in many cases, run out the clock.

As a team who specializes in bank-owned (REO) properties (both buying and selling) and has sold over 30 homes this year from Haymarket to Stafford, we know this first hand. We have had our client’s short sale offers sit at the bank (Loss Mitigation department) for more than 60 days only to find out that the property has been foreclosed on and the expectant buyer's offer has gone by the wayside.

On the flip side, we just recently had to call a local real estate agent listing a short sale and tell her that the bank had assigned the property to us as an REO. She had no idea that the foreclosure was even pending! The irony is that she was listing it at $100K more as a short sale than we did as an REO. Once we listed it, we took multiple offers immediately and had a contract locked in with the bank in 3 days.

If you would like help with finding homes in the Haymarket are, you can check out our website (http://www.tpgrealtors.com) and make specific selections for Short Sale and REO/Bank/HUD/Corp Owned. Use the Advanced search to find listings in Dominion Valley.

If you'd like help setting up a search, just let us know. Our buyer specialists know the short sale and foreclosure market and can help you find solid value as well as help you through the sales process.

Regards, Hap

Wed May 28 2008, 17:20

John,
An agent can go through the comments on the mls and look for "short sale" verbage in the private remarks, not always seen by the public sites.
If you do not mind me asking...Why a preforeclosure. Have you looked into Bank owned? They are so much easier to work with and usually are a great deal. Just a thought. Call if we can help in any way & good luck!
~Shelley

Wed May 21 2008, 07:47

Hi John,

Pre-Forclosures are listed as "short sales". The market value is short of the loan amount owed. About 3 out of 10 actually make it to closing. They can be very frustrating because of the time you have to wait and the lack of information you get from the banks. Foreclosures are much quicker and easier. Feel free to call me if you want any details. No pressure. In the link below is an MLS search for Dominion Valley with the words "short" and "bank" in the remarks section. Good Luck.

Julie Holtkamp, Long & Foster Real Estate
703-786-6789

Mon May 12 2008, 16:18

these properties will normally be listed as "short sales" these are typically the preforeclosure homes...call if you have questions..

Mon May 12 2008, 12:52