Newtoarea

i also bid on a short sale back in May, offer was accepted by seller but we never heard from lender, the sellers agent even opened escrow. anyway it never eventuated so i recently withdrew my offer and thankfully got my earnest money back. my advice: move on. there are plenty foreclosures and standard sales out there. the short sale was too much headache and not worth the frustration. good luck - Thu Sep 10 2009, 14:19

Mrsg,

i also put in an offer for a short sale back in May, the sellers agent even opened escrow, and they cashed my ernest money deposit! after almost 3 months, we have no lender approval, and are frankly quite disgusted. so, last week we withdrew our offer.

i have found that during the last three months since we made that offer on short sale, there have been many REOs and standard sales. true competition is rediculous, but at least with REOs and standard sales you get a yes or no within a week of making your offer. we now have an accepted offer on a REO and are hoping to move into a house soon.

good luck to you. if you love your short sale home, i guess keep waiting, otherwise i say move on...i am glad i did - Fri Aug 14 2009, 18:18

you are definitely not the only one. i have also been submitting offers way above asking (my agent told me to submit my absolute best - my maximum loan approval), after many unsucessful bids, i have come to the conclusion that, rediculous high offers do not get accepted, because the sellers know they will not appraise and the deal will need to be renegotiated - just my opinion

if you are still not having any luck with REOs, try short sales, they are less attractive to the crazy cash buyers out there. although, having had two bad experiences with short sales, i would stay away as they have proved to be huge time wasters - again, just my opinion - Fri Aug 14 2009, 18:03

i do very much appreciate all the answers. now, chris, are you telling me that short sale homeowners are going to get $1250 to help them move out and therefore enable buyers like myself to close faster? well, that may be well intended, but as far as i know, the homeowners moved out a year ago, bought another new house somewhere else, stopped paying for their mortgage, put house up on the market for short sale, and in the mean time, collecting significant rent! now you are telling me they will be paid $1250?? talk about justice! i on the other hand, want to find a house, want to close quickly, did not walk away from my previous house, rather wrote a big check so my credit was not ruined, and in the mean time renting and paying for storage for my things. not to mention that some escrow company is making interest, however little, out of my deposit check, when i don't even have a written commitment from the lenders!! i get it that perhaps my agent had no choice in the opening of escrow for this particular house, but telling me that i need to disclose that fact on future offers, when in fact this is not necessary, tells me that she is only looking out for herself. she does not want me to make offers on other houses with other people. now i am sure i am not the only buyer out there looking at multiple properties and making multiple offers am i? i have always trusted everything she says. please tell me again, is it illegal to make offers on another property while you are already in escrow with another? as a buyer do you HAVE to disclose that fact? my agent told me I HAVE TO, and that her broker said so too. i came here for second opinion, and if no one is going to tell me anything other than go back and ask your agent, then there is no need for this site! - Thu Jul 30 2009, 14:40

Thanks for the answers, i especially found the one by Robert to be very helpful. Here is the problem, my agent told me that now that i am in escrow with this property, i have to disclose that fact to subsequent offers i make on other properties. is this true? doesn't it make my offer less attractive? another BIG problem, they cashed my deposit check already! and the lender has still not approved! am I in big trouble? i would say my agent has very little experience in short sale, so going to her for answers is just a waste of time, and at this point, i want second opinion, so please don't tell me to check with my agent! i know, i probably should not have used her in the first place, but that is too late. - Thu Jul 30 2009, 12:57