Ways to Know a Bank Will Approve the Short Sale

Buyers who plan to buy a short sale in Sacramento should receive some kind of assurance that the bank will approve the short sale. In other words, the odds should be in their favor, especially if they have to wait 6 months for an FHA short sale or 90 days for most other short sales. If a buyer is to invest that amount of time, wouldn’t it be nice to know whether the bank will approve the short sale?

For starters, a buyer can approve the odds by buying a short sale listed by an experienced Sacramento short sale REALTOR. By experienced, I mean the REALTOR has a long track record of closing many short sales, not just a handful. It seems that some agents close one or two short sales, and granted it can seem like a lifetime, but two short sales does not make an agent an experienced short sale agent. It makes the agent somebody who ventured into short sale waters and came out without drowning or getting shot, a note-worthy accomplishment but it doesn’t mean much.

Some agents will list a property as a short sale simply because the seller asked them to do it. They never ask the seller if there is genuine hardship or qualify the seller at all. Some agents don’t even negotiate their own short sales. Not really knocking the third-party negotiators, but they don’t seem motivated by the time is of essence urgency that listing agents tend to possess. It’s often just another file. But I think buyers would rather see the file with a third-party negotiator than with an agent who doesn’t know what he or she is doing. Still, all in all, buyers are typically better off if the listing agent negotiates the short sale, has experience and has qualified the seller.

I can say all of this because I’ve sold hundreds of short sales and negotiated tons, more than any other Realtor in a 7-County area in Sacramento Valley since 2006. When I spot a short sale in MLS that is pending short lender approval but is mispriced, that’s a pretty good sign the short sale will end up back on the market at a much higher price or simply rejected all together. The mispricing is typically too low. I don’t know where agents get some of these prices — I think they pluck numbers from thin air, hoping and praying in vain. Banks want market value. End of story.

If you’re searching for a Sacramento short sale agent, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. If your short sale is doomed, you can trust that I won’t list it. My short sales close. Can’t recall that I have ever lately had a bank reject a short sale. You can put faith in the odds that the bank will approve the short sale when you’re buying a short sale listed by Weintraub.