The Waiting Game: Los Angeles Short Sale Approval Time
I received a phone call from an excited home buyer yesterday. He was interested in a well priced pool home in Glendale which he found searching the Internet. I quickly signed into the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) and learned that the well priced home was a short sale.
I reminded my client:
1) The exciting listing price was likely determined by the seller and their real estate agent. The lender needs to agree to accept less than what is owed.; they need to agree to the selling price established by the owner and their Realtor.
2) There may be more than one loan (more than one lender needed to agree to sell short)
3) The acceptance process could take a long time
I told my client I would contact the home seller’s Realtor. This is what I learned:
The listing agent had discussed the possibility of the short sale with the owner’s bank. The bank said to list the home and when they had offers to submit them to the bank and the bank would make a decision.
I asked her how many offers she had: “three” she responded and asked her if she was countering all of them: “she wasn’t certain, yet” I asked her how long the bank told her they might take to make a decision: “Three to Six Months” she responded.
Natalie is in escrow with a short sale, buyer number one did all of the work and dropped out, Natalie’s buyer is buyer number two. Home buyers looking at short sales need to be reminded that buyer number one is typically the guinea pig, their offer is the one needed by the seller and their agent prior to the bank making the decision as to whether they will sell short and if so by how much. Each short sale is different, each lender is different.
Categories: Short Sale, A Buyer's Perspective
Tags: short sale timeline
Check this out...Wachovia is setting the benchmark for the Short Sale process...the days of 30, 60, 90 days waiting for a short sale approval are over.
"Wachovia Short Sale"...as it's branded...was rolled out in Northern California and has been a huge success. Wachovia is partnering with Real Estate Agents to expedite offers on short sales. Imagine...45 days to close a short sale...that's 45 days from the day the offer is sent to Wachovia. This "Best Practice" will change the way Short Sales are perceived! Since this has been extremely successful in Northern California we are now rolling it out in Southern California! If you are a motivated Realtor in the Los Angeles area that cares about people and wants help them as well as create your own opportunities please email me for more information.
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You look like you have lots of great experience with the LA real estate market. I'll make sure to keep your name and number on hand when I need real estate services in the future. I'll visit around your site, it looks really interesting!
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Your article was quite intriguing and the information quite useful. Will check your site often to see other great posts you make! Regards
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Good writing. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed my Google News Reader..
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It's a real waiting game...
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3-6 months is a long time to wait for your bank to decide on the short sale. Surely Natalie must be wary of getting people on the line just to see them drift away because of the lack of contact or time taken. We find that most people looking for a house to buy will not wait more than 2 months if they are interested. The market can change dramatically in that time, or they can find a better house. Surely the bank will know after the first offer whether or not to accept a short sale.
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It's the buyer's decision whether or not they want to make an offer on a short sale. And their decision how long to wait.
Surely the bank will know after the first offer whether or not to accept a short sale. One would think but not necessarily the case.
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