1. Short Sales may take a long time to complete. If you intend to submit an offer on a property being short sold patience is an absolute necessity. If your moving situation requires you to be in a property by a certain date (start of school, job relocation, etc.) this type of transaction may not be right for you.
2. Short Sale Approvals tend not to be short in nature. Even though lenders may take quite some time in issuing approvals, the time allowed for you to close can be very short. It is best to be somewhat prepared by keeping your financials updated with your lender and providing them with progress reports frequently.
3. Pursuing a house subject to a short sale may cause you to miss out on other buying opportunities. Because short sales can potentially take so long other houses in which you may be interested will come on and off the market. It is best to do some your inspections early to avoid losing other purchasing opportunities.
4. You should be getting regular updates. You will want to make sure that your offer is being diligently pursued by whoever has been selected to handle the short sale. Our policy is to work on a file 3-5 times a week and send out updates every 5-7 business days. We have found that these timelines give us the opportunity to make progress on a short sale so each update has actual substance.
5. Short Sale Lenders May Counteroffer Your Offer. Just because your offer has been accepted by the seller does not mean you are home free. Lenders involved in a short sale will secure their own appraisal or broker price opinion, or sometimes, both. Where their value comes in at an amount greater than your offer they will counteroffer. Don’t get angry when this happens, the seller usually has nothing to do with this occurrence and it is something that can be worked through in different ways.