Kb,

This sounds strange to me. I have worked on both sides of many short sales and have never had the sellers bank ask for the buyers pay stubs. Unless you have agreed to buy your loan from the sellers creditors (bank) then they should have no need for your pay stubs, the approval letter from your lender should be sufficient. Generally when the seller's creditors get ccloser to a decision they will ask for a copy of the sellers financial information, including pay stubs, tax returns, w-2's, bank statements etc. This is because they want to make sure the seller does not have the funds to create the loan from falling short, or that their income isn't sufficient to support the mortgage. I would ask your agent to converse with the listing agent to find out what the bank is looking for from this. Maybe the listing agent misunderstood the bank and the bank wants the seller's pay stubs.

Good luck, but this is odd....

Which bank asked for the pay stubs? If it was your bank (where you're getting your mortgage), it's just a normal part of the process. If it was the bank that holds the current mortgage, I think it's a little odd (if they already have a copy of your pre-approval letter), but probably indicates that they're getting closer to making a decision.

Every short sale transaction appears to be different but I would consider this a positive sign. The bank would ask for most recent paystubs to verify the amount of your income and that it has not changed. Good luck!