This is the third post in a multi-post blog series on things to consider when considering buying a short sale. So far, we’ve covered: 1) What’s Your Time Frame for Moving? And 2) How much under market value are you purchasing the property for?
Given the complicated nature of buying a short sale and how many parties can potentially be involved before one is approved, it might not come as a surprise to learn just how much the listing agent can negatively or positively impact not only the timeline of the sale, but whether or not it even succeeds. This brings us to our next main point to consider:
Is the Listing Agent Experienced with Short Sales?
When you’re considering buying a short sale, you need to know if the listing agent has any experience dealing with these kinds of sales. Your real estate agent needs to find this out early on, before you decide if it’s worth your time to even write an offer. If the listing agent lacks experience in this area, have your agent ask them if they are at least planning on hiring a negotiator. Basically, a negotiator’s job is get the seller’s lender to accept the contract sales price, or a price as close to the contract sales price as possible. Professional short sale negotiators are experienced with this time consuming process and their involvement goes a long way toward reducing the amount of time this would normally take.
If the listing agent doesn’t have much experience listing these types of sales and they haven’t hired any professional help to expedite the process, good luck, because you’re in for a long, rocky ride. Buying a short sale is a complicated endeavor, and a lack of experience and knowledge increases the amount of time that each complicated step in the process takes. Unless you have an endless reservoir of patience as a home buyer, you don’t want to go there.
Read the next post in this series on whether or not buying a short sale is a good idea.