Short Sale SellersShould You Buy a Short Sale?
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Buying a short sale or foreclosure can be tricky. For short sales, you need to be aware of a few things before deciding to buy a short sale.
- You cannot be in a hurry – The process is quite slow. It can take a month or 3 months. Sometimes it can take longer. Don’t try to hire a mover, end your lease or lock your rate until you have confirmation that the offer is approved by the bank. If the seller accepts your offer, that is not the same as the bank finalizing the offer. It must be approved by the bank.
- You are buying the home “as is” - In rare cases the lender may pay for repairs, but frequently the lender will not and usually the seller is in a hardship so they will be unable to pay for anything. You should perform your inspections to see what condition the home is in.
- You cannot flip the house – Short sales are very great deals in most cases but you will not get a price low enough to get a good short term profit.
- Status updates take longer – All parties have to wait on the lender, who will more often than not move at a snail pace.
- The listing agent should be a short sale specialist, if not the situation can be troublesome – Short sales are even hard for the most experienced of real estate agents, so it is quite important to get a real estate agent that knows what they are doing. It may save you some frustration.
- Funny enough, you will need to close quickly – Once the lender has approved the sale, things move rather quickly. They will want to close between 15 to 30 days. Get ready to move quickly!