Bank response to short sales - slow might be too kind a word
I've written about short sales before and opined they are a waste of time for buyers to pursue. Don't confuse buying a short sale with a foreclosure which is actually lender owned property (REO) that can generally get done.
An article by Reuters indicated that 1/3 of pre-foreclosure (short sales) fail according to a survey. Frankly, I'm surprised that it is only 1/3 and not almost all. With an average of 4.5 weeks to provide an answer, banks obviously don't know how to sell real estate and slow might be too kind a word for a bank response (or lack of) to an offer. If you are planning on moving into a home purchased in a short sale, don't call the moving company too early.
NEW YORK, April 3 (Reuters) - "A third of all home sales planned to prevent foreclosure fail, due largely to sluggish response from mortgage companies that service the loans, a survey showed on Thursday.
The study of more than 3,000 real estate agents last month by Campbell Communications found it takes mortgage servicers an average of 4.5 weeks to provide answers on so-called short sales, in which the sale price is below the balance of an existing loan."
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