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To succeed in buying a short sale you need the skin of an alligator, the patience of a rock, and the willingness to endure the real estate equivalent of the Chinese water torture.
Most buyers who are intending to occupy the house should probably go find a conventional sale and get a move-in in 30 or 45 days. In my mind, short sales are more the domain of investors such as myself.
I did one short sale that took about 5-6 months of endless rounds of BS, a stupid or uncooperative seller, an intractable second mortgage holder, and seemingly disinterested seller's Realtor, or communications challenged to say the least.
Yet it turned out to become my favorite property, I got a fantastic deal. It's funny how appraisals always seem to come out at exactly the loan figure (they obviously tell the appraiser what the contract price is) and although my appraiser said I got about $1K below market it looked more like about $5K under market to me! This was 2014 and I had it rented out within 30 days of closing and haven't had a single day of vacancy yet!
Too bad my other deals never got this good.
You have to be prepared for endless rounds of red tape to contemplate buying a short sale. Who knows, you might close in 30-45 days, or 6 months, or never. Not for the faint of heart.
To succeed in buying a short sale you need the skin of an alligator, the patience of a rock, and the willingness to endure the real estate equivalent of the Chinese water torture.
Absolutely. Every new day is a heartbreak or a headache with a short sale. Good luck to the OP!
Yep, Smartygurl. I'll add to that, most people will be better off leaving the short sales to investors such as myself, somebody who doesn't mind waiting several months for the deal to close if that's what it takes.
If you want to move into your short sale and live there, your current living situation will have to be flexible that you can move whenever you want if it closes. Most people want to just buy a house and move in 30-45 days later.
I'm a landlord so I didn't mind waiting for the deal to close, and knowing I'd get my earnest money back. Interest rates being what they are the earnest money was no big deal so all I had invested in the house is less than $1K for an inspection and appraisal.
we are actually getting close to 8 months from when i made my offer. we are staying in the same town and i dont need to sell to move; so i was able to be patient.
CaptainNG you are in a good position. Hold fast and you may find a pearl in the clam as I did in my own short sale, which has turned into one of my most lucrative investments. I'm sure I got it at least $5K under market, at the cost of waiting 4-5 months to close.
Short sales are only for people who have the time and situation to wait them out.
just got word that the judgments are gone. so now we can close. seller's attorney seems to want to schedule it for the day before the bank's extension expires. wtf. i am trying to get it earlier.
The exact same thing happened to me. We closed the day before the second mortgage holder's deadline expired.
I hope my reassurance is helpful for you. Please update us and tell us how your closing went.
Just for my idle curiosity are you an investor or do you intend to occupy the property yourself?
yes, any positive experience help a little. i have learned my lesson on this deal to not expect good news. i was about 50% expecting yesterday to be told that it would be delayed more.
it looks like they have agreed to close earlier. seller's attorney said that we could on 12/22 as long as the seller returned the signed documents quickly (so im not banking on 12/22).
i am planning on living here. through most of the process we only told some of my immediate family (not all) about it because we didnt want other people expecting it only to find out it wasnt happening. after the approval from the bank we told some more people but still dont give much info. i estimate we are getting around a 35% discount off of the market value. i will go into more detail when the deal is done.
Last edited by CaptainNJ; 12-15-2016 at 02:23 PM..
I recommend non-investors do not buy short sales, but only because most people want to buy it and move in 30 or 45 days later. But if you have the patience and life situation that you can stand the time delay with the possibility it will never close then there are good deals out there.
You are doing fantastically well if you get it at 35% under market!
I'm pretty sure I got a better deal than my numbers indicate. As an investor it was well worth the wait!
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