Have you heard about short sales on the news and in the media?  A short sale is when the lender accepts the sale price of a home that is lower then the mortgage on the house.  That's the basics of it.  Are these good deals?  Sometimes they are.  Typically these short sales haven't been abandoned like foreclosures.  The owner might be somewhat taking care of the property.   A good short sale price should be almost equal to what the property would sell for as a foreclosure or above.  

I currently do not list homes as short sales.  And the public has been somewhat misinformed about short sales.  Some think that anyone can sell their home as a short sale.  That's not true.  A seller has to show that they will lose the house to foreclosure if the bank doesn't accept the short sale.  If a person never has missed a payment, if they always make their payments on time.  And if they have good current employment then most likely a lender will not approve a short sale.  Typically there has to be a letter of hardship to get a short sale approved with the bank.  Also sellers that want to attempt a short sale should contact a Realtor that is experienced in this as it isn't the typical real estate transaction at all. 

So the question again.  Is it a good deal to buy a short sale home?  yes and no.  If you are looking to buy a home in as little as 45 days you might as well not look at short sales.  In some cases it is possible as banks and lenders are building their systems to handle these transactions, but it typically takes as long as 2 months.  After a month you still might not know if you will be buying the house in some cases.

If you see a short sale listing with a wonderful to good to be true price and you make an offer you still might not get it.  In the short sale process at some point the bank or lender will hire a couple of Realtors to do what's called a broker price opinion.  This will give the lender a couple of opinion on the value of the property.  If the short sale offer is less then what the lender could make just foreclosing then the short sale will probably not be approved.  I do quite a few of these broker price opinions.  Time to time I do them for short sales and sometimes I've found the list price of the property is way below the market value.  Why is that?  The Realtor is trying to get offers.  Any offers. In hopes that that bank will approve one of them.  But if they are too low they won't. 

If you are willing to wait quite awhile to buy a home then maybe a short sale is worth considering.  You can always right in the contract dates that it has to be accepted by so you don't limit yourself. 

Below is a short video on short sales.  Just the basics.

If you are interested in looking at short sales, foreclosures or any home.  Contact me at 970-302-1233.  You can also fill out the form at the end to send me an e-mail. 

For all Greeley Colorado Real Estate homes for sale visit www.greeley-weldcountyhomesforsale.com.  You've find a wealth of information there. 

Thank you,

Marc Oster

Y and M Real Estate LLC

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