Maria,

If you have a date you need to purchase by, I would recommend not dealing with a short sale. Noone controls when a lender will approve a short sale, it could be 30 days - 6 months or more, it all depends on the lender. You would be better off looking at bank owned homes. There are some good deals there and you can take possession right away.

For anyone not having a drop dead date to move, short sales are a good way to buy a home at a bargain price. So while I don't recommend them for buyers with a timeline for moving, I do recommend them for anyone else. When buyng a short sale, just make sure you have an agent who knows what they are doing. Most realtors are hiring attorneys to negotiate the sale. To me, that's the best option but to each his own. I am closing on a short sale that took two months to the day to get lender approval and we are closing next month.

If you need any help with your real estate needs, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Hi Maria, Buying a home on short sale can take longer than "typical" for a number of reasons. Absolutely you have to be precise with your paperwork and have patience. It is hard to say if you would settle by September. It does vary. Important things to consider when buying short sale. Have your approval in hand (not a pre-qual but a full blown approval contingent on a contract and appraisal). Next have an agent who knows how to do short sales. There is more detail to submitting for a short sale than a typical offer. See if they have any training on this niche. Make sure the package submitted is complete. Even if you are missing something because it does not exist, put paper in that section with a note indicating so. Then it will depend alot of times of the mortgage company. Maria, I know some realtors who have been trying to get a short sale approved for over 6 months! Then I know some realtors who have them approved within 3 months. Any questions, don't hesitate to drop me a line or call. If you have a realtor have a detailed discussion with them. Good luck!

There are no exact answers to your questions - short sales are all different and require a Realtor that is very knowledgeable in this specific field. I specialize in short sales in Texas, but since the lenders involved in short sales are in many different states, they all have the same basic steps and requirements. It will depend on what type of loan the homeowner has and which lender it is with, how many liens, how far behind the homeowner is on payments, what the appraised value of the home is, etc. I have closed short sales in a matter of a few weeks and I have closed them after a year of negotiating with the lender. I have had appraisals come in so far from the actual value of the house that the lender couldn't accept an offer and the house went to foreclosure anyway. If you want to ask other questions, please go to my website and email me directly.

Short sales can be along process, but they can also go smoothly. I think a lot of it is how the listing agents is organized. I finally took a short sale listing but decided I would have a specialist at a local title office handle the short sale coordination. I found a buyer and within 3 weeks of listing it, I have all docs ok'd and signed off by the seller and the leinholder, and we are closing in about 30 days. It can be done. Most stories are not like this one. I assume I was a very lucky Realtor to have it happent he way it did, but I will do more and plan to use the same system.

I hope this helps wih your question, and feel free to ask anything else.