A short sale is short money, not time
There are a few short sales available in the Charleston South Carolina real estate market that are listed on the Charleston MLS. Let's dispel a couple of myths. Most are not cheap, most are not in good condition, and most importantly, all are not easy to buy. What a short sale means is that the homeowner owes more than the bank will receive when the mortgage (s) are paid off. In other words, the lender is short money.
Danny DeVito is short. At 5 feet tall, he is probably one of the most successful short actors in history. But it isn't likely that buyers will be successful trying to buy a short sale. Here's why. Banks don't know how to sell real estate.
While a property that has not yet gone into foreclosure might be "offered for sale", nothing about the listing is approved, not the price, not the terms, nothing. And even worse, the bank generally won't respond to an offer. For some reason, they would rather foreclose, lose even more money and then sell it later. At that point, you might be able to actually buy it.
Read the description of this short sale listing.
This property is being sold as a short sale. Any offer to purchase is subject to bank approval. There is currently one offer that has been submitted on this property. The process could take up to 4 months to ratify a contract per the Short Sale Company. We will submit all offers as they come in, but please let your buyers know it could take months for a response from the bank. The bank will not pay closing cost or assist with any down payment.
We're very fortunate that the Charleston real estate market does not have lots of foreclosures and short sales but make no mistake, there are some and there are likely to be more in the coming year. Complicating matters in a short sale is the fact that there may also be a first mortgage and a second mortgage or home equity line of credit with a second and different lender. Then you have 2 banks who will not agree making the likelihood of a successful transaction even more doubtful.
If you want to buy a Charleston home for sale, there are bargains and you can negotiate a favorable price and / or terms. If you want to buy a short sale, plan on spending a lot of time, just don't plan on moving into the house.