Make sure your agent is qualifying the listing agent and the seller. Find out where they are in the short sale process. Consider adding hard earnest with your offer. A great tool for a buyer's agent is communicating with the listing agent and the seller that you're committed to this house and will stick with the long process. Only offer hard earnest in exchange for a signed agreement from the seller, obviously the acceptance is continguent on bank approval. Get the acceptance addendum in writing stating that the seller/listing has accepted your contract and committed to you as a buyer.

Toni,

My best advice to you will be to go and try to find a good foreclosed property or regular sale. Below is some data that will help you with your decision:

* Short sales can take up to 6 months (or more in some cases) just to get a response from the bank - which can be an acceptance, counter-offer or rejection.

* If the property has more than one lien holder, you are at the mercy of the timing of both. Plus both will have to agree on how much go to the jr lien holders, which rarely occurs.

* In most instances the seller keeps the property active (which can be done by several ways without violating any rules) and can receive 10 to 20 offers on the same property.

* Many times the bank counter-offers with a higher price and/or the bids drive the price up. It is very common for short sales to sell well over asking price.

* Based on the latest figures only about 10% of short sales ever close. If you add to that fact that each property can have more than 10 offers, you will see that each individual offer will have less than 1% chance of getting the property after waiting many months for it.

Listing prices on many short sales are better viewed as start bidding points, rather than asking price.

If I were you I will ask my Realtor to filter out all short sales from my search.

Carlos
ABR – Accredited Buyer Representative
.

Hi Toni,

Welcome to the world of short sales. You asked for advice. So, here's mine.
STAY AWAY FROM SHORT SALES. Your limited experience, although negative, is just one of the many reasons why most well-informed buyers will not even consider them. You are probably better off staying away from short sales and only consider REO (bank owned properties) or private seller properties that are not in foreclosure.

STAY AWAY FROM SHORT SALES. This is my advice to you and all my buyer clients.

---
PAUL WELDEN
Buyer's Agent
HomeSmart
480-241-0081

Hi Toni,

Here's the most basic of guidelines when presenting a Short Sale offer.

You need the patience of a Saint. Responses from the sellers lender will be few and far between and you will have to realize that the home may actually never be sold as a short sale, which is more the case then not.

This is the primary reason most agents will not present offers on Sort Sales. Buyers become impatient and walk.

Offers may come in on a property aggressively priced by the truckload and you are one in 20. The bank will try and get the most it can and they don't care about you.... period.

You should know to keep this a non-emotional process and prepare for possible (probable) disappointment.

One last thing, get everything in writing as anything verbal from a lender or realtor isn't Worth spit.

If you are "told" your offer has been accepted, ask to see the letter of acceptance from the 1st, 2nd or 3rd lien holders and do not proceed forward with anything until you do.

Hope this helps...

Stew Keene
Keller Williams realty
Scottsdale, AZ
2008-2009 Master of Real Estate award recipient

you can not do any thing. you have to wait for the approval from mortgagee. it take long time to get the approval. in short sale, owner can not detertmine the price. owner just send the package to the mortgagee.
after review the appraisal they decide the price for short sale. if your offer does not meet their targeted price they advice the seller agent to increse the offer. the Agent can accept the offers as back up.