Short Sales

TO be fair, the example I’m using is from Florida. But ask anybody who has gone through a short sale in Phoenix, and I’m sure this has happened here.
Say what you want about Zillow’s Zestiamtes, and Trulia’s business model, but I love the way that they have created an open forum for consumers to ask questions and get legitimate answers. I get the feeds for certain topics sent right to my email in the hopes that I can learn something and that I can share what I know.

This morning I saw someone had asked a question about the short sale process:
“We made an offer on a short sale (Chase.) After we submitted an amended offer agreeing to a binder after seller acceptance at their request, we are told there is now another offer. They are now asking for our highest and best. Knowing that it is a short sale, should we really offer our highest and best or leave a little wiggle room in case Chase comes back and negotiate?”

Oddly, some of the answers revolved around REO (Real Estate Owned) listings. Here is my answer:
“The listing agent is going to screw up the deal. Did the sellers already accept your offer or are they waiting to sign off once the bank gives approval? I’m not sure if your local rules are different, but the BEST way to get short sales closed is to accept an offer and hold any new offers as back up (NOT submitting them to the bank). If the sellers accepted, you have a binding contract. They should NOT be submitting more offers to the bank. This will just screw up the deal. You should not have to do a highest and best since your offer was already accepted. If the listing agent submitted the other offer to the bank, then you are in trouble. The bank could just deny your offer and accept the other one.”

Let me reiterate: When your home is in the short sale process, you should only accept and send to the bank (for approval) one offer! Any other offers, even if they are for more money, should be held in the back up position. To you, the seller, the final sales price shouldn’t matter. Your agents fiduciary responsibility is to you, and making sure that the short sale gets approved and closed; not to get the highest price!

The offer you select should have a reasonable chance of being approved by the bank. If the home is worth $150k (no matter what you owe) then an offer close to that is what should be sent in! Every time you send in a new offer, you are screwing things up at the bank, and jeopardizing your chance for success.

If you have any questions about short selling your home, or other alternatives to foreclosure, please don’t hesitate to give me a call. I would love to help you figure out a game plan.
(480) 389-5199

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