This is my first blog on short sale superstar, but it's not my first experience with short sales. I must say right off the bat that short sales have to be the most frustrating and time consuming part of the real estate business these days. The banks advertise that they will mediate with the sellers to help them avoid foreclosure. I hear story after story from people who have tried that route and hit a wall. There seems to be no end in sight at the moment.

I was working most recently on a short sale and it seemed to be going pretty well. I had a very educated seller who was working closely with the bank and were actually making some progress. We reached the final stages and then the bank raised the price by $10K and the buyer walked. The banks appraiser came from Atlanta and did not know the market and his price point came in $20K over what we were listed at. I had the CMA and supporting comps and it all seemed to be ignored. At the last minute the bank ordered an interior BPO that came back $10K higher than the contract price we had. The deal blew up and the property is about to be foreclosed on. I'm not a "betting man", however, I'll bet after the foreclosure that it comes on the market below our contract price.

It's been at least two years of this short sale cycle and the banks need to develop some working systems to handle the short sale process and volume. I'm just saying....

Dwayne Hicks
Metro West Realty
www.mwestrealty.com
[email protected]