Has anyone ever had a lender ask them to put the buyer's down payment in to escrow PRIOR to an approval of a short sale.?  We had one go to foreclosure this morning.  We were waiting on final approval from the investor.  The buyer had conventional financing, 20% down.  The negotiator said it was One West Bank's "policy" that in order to postpone the trustee's sale they wanted the buyer to deposit their down payment... which in this case was $39,000 into escrow.  The buyer was uncomfortable doing that without an approval letter, OR confirmation the trustee's sale was postponed.  Anyone deal with anything like this????  Thanks.