Can you handle a short sale within your personality?

My experience is that many people way over estimate their staying power in a short sale situation. If you are paying cash, meeting a bank agreed upon price, and are alone in your offer,
you have a chance of closing within 3 -4 months. If you are financing, good luck, as you may well lose out to a cash offer that comes in over top of you, while you are trying to work out the loan details. We are required at Prudential Tropical Realty to counsel each seller and buyer of the challenges to entering into a short sale...as seller or buyer. I worked on one sale for over 9 months just trying to get an offer accepted. The deal finally fell apart when the buyer pulled out, and the seller ran out of gas filling out form after form for the bank. If you are in the situation where you have the patience to wait ( with virtually no information or communication taking place about your offer ) for 4 -9 months to make a purchase...then a short sale might be your thing. Most people I have dealt with get "antsy" going into the 2nd month of no response. The bank will respond when it wants to respond, in the way it wishes to respond, and you may not like the response, having waited months for the response. Some short sales move along quickly. If you have a negotiator working the sale, they usually have relationships at the bank they can push on for results. If a property has been on the market for awhile, and you have cash, the bank may decide to just take the money to remove their pain. There is no consistency from one sale to the next. Each is a unique life event. That said, make sure you have the real resolve to see the process through, and a detail minded agent who can push things along by applying gentle pressure. In many cases, you may be better served buying a non-distressed property where you know your end cost, and can close quite quickly. I have seen it over and over again where people buy a short sale thinking they have a property that will appreciate. Then they go and put way to much money in the rehabilitation of the property, or find some defect in the "as is" purchase that blows any savings right out the window. If your rehab is not carefully handled, you may well create a home that is overpriced to the neighborhood, and not able to be re-sold for what you have invested in it. This happens more times than you can imagine...even with professional "flippers" operating in the short sale market today. Take your time, take your temperature, spread sheet short sale homes with non-distressed properties to determine if the spread is there to allow the necessary repairs without going over the market price you could expect once repaired. Lastly, I will mention again the value of an agent to guide you through the short sale uncharted waters. You need to do your homework before you make any offer in a short sale transaction. If a seller, you need to research what will happen to any deficiency that is not covered in the sale. The lender has up to 5 years to come after you with a judgment of deficiency, if they have not excused you in writing, for the balance of the mortgage not paid at closing.