Hey everyone,

I'm brand new to the site and just looking for a little guidance. I put an offer in on a house 6 weeks ago. I know that's not a long time for a short sale, and I'm waiting patiently (or at least trying to :)) I went directly through the listing agent as I didn't/don't have my own agent.  My original offer was going to be $4000 less than the asking price, but the realtor convinced me to make it even lower, $10,000 less than the list price. - Cash Purchase. He said some other offers had gone through and been accepted, but fell through due to financing, so I had faith that maybe one of those offers was around the same as what he was telling me to offer.  Unfortunately, he doesn't keep me updated, if I want an update I have to call him. Two weeks ago I called and he said the bank had requested an appraisal and that he had hopes of hearing something by the end of the week. I heard nothing, and then at the beginning of this week I noticed the house was no longer listed, so I called him to inquire about that and he said he marked it as pending, as he was receiving a lot of phone calls and didn't want to submit any other offers against mine.   Is this normal?  From what I've said, what stage of the process is my offer possibly in? I would like an idea of how long I may be waiting to get an acceptance or rejection. Also, is it likely for them to accept my low offer? I'm willing to increase it if they counter, and the realtor knows that, my fear is that they'l reject it and I would have to start the process all over again, or find a different house.   Any advice or information anyone can provide will be greatly appreciated. As you can probably tell I know nothing about short sales, except they are not SHORT! =)