Stacey,

Middlesex, Monmuth, Essex, whatever county . . . frankely it dosn't matter . . . it is the banks that maintain control of these deals. I can't imagine that your current realtor would negledt a deal (i.e., $$$. the bejamins!). Keep in close contact with your current agent and keep "working It' realiziong that us agents are at the mercy of the banks!

Love and Peace,
Francesca

Hi Stacy,

I would need to ask how you "found out" the offer was not peresented to the "bank" until 3 weeks after?

I think that when you spoke to the "bank" and they told you that.. I think they meant that they got to look at the offer 3 weeks after it was submitted. I have experience in Short Sales and I have one in South River actually at this moment.

Most banks are about 3 -5 weeks behind in looking at offers due to the large amount of short sales that are currently happening, if the complete package is not filled out, including the HUD and it may be one form from the seller, they do not look at it until it is a complete package.. and then .. it goes into the "bank", hits a few hands before is it assigned to a negotiator.. that person probably has a pile on thier desk also.
Then the seller has to ackowledge in writing who has access to discuss the transaction, the attorney and Realtor need to get approval before the case can be discussed.

So there may be many reason why the offer got to a negotiator 3 weeks after it was "sent in" and in turn was "presented" to a negotiator.

When I present an offer, I find out whom is authorized to speak to the bank on behalf of the seller.. these are key contacts and many agents.. even "certified short sale specialist" ( all a certified agent is an someone who went to a class) agents do not know who to speak to.. it is a learning process and each bank is different.

I hope it all works out for you.. but the key to a short sale is patience and the right person working in your corner.

Good Luck.

Stacet,

With all due respect . . . . yada, yada, ydaa . . . .isn't that what u just wnat to hear as a well qulaifed, anxious buyer.

While I have refused to date to bcome involved in short sales (depite receiveiving a certification as a
"short sale specialist") am I am starting to belive I am , I relucantly called upon two "advetised short sales" and asked (1) have u had any previious offrers siubmitted to the bank and (2) have your cliients submitted the apprpriate loss mitigation documentation to the bank ., , . both anwsers of which I recieived were .. . . . yada, yada, yada . . . . what is that? Huh? yu can't anser these basic questions,time to moe on o the next istingng.

I'm sorry, can go ib and on a out unqualified agent and unresprosve bank, but I chooe to stop here andl u decice ethre u wasbt toi speak fuher.

Love and peace,
Francesca Patrizio, Reator,ePro
Rea.tmart Realty
732.6062931

The realtor submits the offer to the bank or the person handling the short sale. Some short sales have more then one loan on them and if that is the case the process will take longer. MIne had 2 and 5 months later they excepted and want to close in 30 days... They take forever but u have to be ready or they will void the acceptance if you do not comply or pass on the fee's to you for being late. You can't do inspections until you know they accept your offer and if the inspection turns out bad they will not give you any money towards repairs. SO it is as is or you walk away. Buying ahome from a homeowner is much easier...but if you have the time, and don't mind you can hang in there.

Hi Stacey,

A lot of good answers from the Trulia Community...
I posted a short blog a few days ago on how to get approval for a short sale. You might find it interesting:
http://www.trulia.com/blog/cathy_chaudemanche/2009/01/gettin…

Cathy C.

Hi Stacey - All things mentioned previously are very helpful regarding short sales. As someone who deals a lot with short sales, but also not being aware of the particulars of your situation, let me mention the following. First of all, in my experience, the listing agent is generally responsible for handling the short sale for the property. This includes preparing any preliminary paperwork, staying in touch with the bank, presenting offers, etc. The attorney will prepare the HUD-1 Statement, but that's about it (because let's be honest, what attorney has time to wait on hold for the bank to get to their call on a weekly basis?). If the agent has been diligent about preparing the preliminary paperwork for the bank (which can often include, but is not limited to tax returns, W-2's, bank statements, financial statements, a hardship letter, etc.), then when the offer comes in, all they need to do is add in the contract, fax it in, and wait for the magic to happen (albeit, as slow as it might be). Personally, I make it a policy to get everything out within 24 hours of receiving an offer, often sooner. Will you have a response from the bank immediately? No. However, they should receive it in a timely manner to get the ball rolling. As for time frames with the bank, just to give you an idea, I'm currently working on a short sale where we received the offer at the end of October and didn't receive approval until late February!

All good info. For more short sale info and documents go to http://www.foreclosuremillionaires.com

Hi Stacey,
The key to waiting out a short sale is patience. Yes, you need a diligent agent, someone who prepares all the documents properly to the lender. Yes, a HUD statement is required and done by an attorney. The lender approval process takes time and with some lenders it's longer than others. Once you do get an acceptance be ready, you may be required to close sooner than you think on the offer is accepted.

In a short sale, the bank may also be considering more than one bid on a property. And there is usually more than one individual finalizing the decision. In this market many lenders are swamped. There are a lot of short sales and foreclosures in the system currently to mortgage predictment that fell upon so many people and the current economy. However, for buyers, it's an excellent time to purchase.

Artur, is absolutely right, you can get a good deal but in bidding on a short sale but cool heads prevail. Best of Luck to you. I hope you get your deal. Lucy

Stacey,
It is important that an agent submitting a short sale package to the lender on behalf of his/her have his client to prepare the package before they list the house. It can take some time to prepare all documents required by the lender, so if you start doing it once you get n offer - it easily can take several weeks to complete the package. The only document an agent cannot prepare before seller accept's an offer is the estimated HUD 1 statement for obvious reason. So, to make a long story short if an agent is prepared and assuming nothing out of the ordinary, agent should be able to send the package within a week at most.

Once the offer is sent - it is pretty much out of agent's control. A diligent agent should check progress of the lender every step of the way. Without getting to reason why it is happening, if things can go wrong for lenders in short sale - they do. I am working with many lenders and some are more "troublesome" than others, but I will share one fact with you and it happened twice two my clients having the same lender. I will not mention their name, but it takes them two months (that's not a typo) to receive and login a fax with a short sale package from their clients. I submitted to them two separate packages and it happened both times. In this context a three week your agent spent on preparing the package looks like a breeze! At least he was busy doing something!

But let me finish on a positive note. Short sale is a best chance to get a really good deal (usually better than foreclosure). So - good luck with yours! Once is over it will be a good conversational piece! Most importantly - stay cool. It is only a 50/50 chance that short sale will close (at best), so make sure that it doesn't burn you and you are ready for next one if this one doesn't work.

My neighbor is a real estate agent and said in NJ all she is seling is short sales and they take a long time becuase of the bank

Stacey short sales are anything but short. If the owners had not started the "short sale" procedure prior to accepting your offer that time frame is fairly accurate. When dealing with the bank (some banks are better then others) they have a lot of people who are going throught the "short sale" process however they do not have a lot of people available to process it. I am not in your county however it does sound like the process is the same everywhere. I hope this helped. Marie Tils