The biggest issues with short sales with Realtors are:

1. In many cases, the soonest you will hear if your offer was accepted is 45 days or more.
2. The listing price has nothing to do with the actual price that the bank will accept.  The bank does not give the Realtors a price that they will accept until they receive offers.
3. Many people are offering the bank much lower than the listed price.  The reality is, the bank will be selling that home at very close to market rate.  They will do an appraisal on the property prior to accepting the offer.
4. While you are waiting for an answer on your offer, the listing remains active and the bank is usually receiving more offers.
5. When the bank does come back with an answer, there is usually no chance for a counter offer since they will accept the best offer (if any).
6. The bank will usually turn down most offers that are asking them to pay anything toward closing costs.
7. The bank will usually not do any repairs on the property.  The property is sold “as is”.
8. The bank may require the seller to sign a promissory note to pay the difference.   So after all this time, and even potentially at the closing table, the seller can walk away from the deal and have it fall apart after almost 6 months.