As I have said all along over the past couple years, banks are motivated by different factors than a traditional seller. A potential retail buyer (or "nester") is unlikely to know exactly what those motivating factors are. If the note has been sold on the secondary market, and many have been, then it's the note holder & not the servicer making foreclosure/short sale decisions. Possibly, there are other factors such as the current borrower/owner having other outstanding loans with the bank that adds another wrinkle. Or, it could be how the bank is handling their accounting that makes the difference between short sale & foreclosure. It's really a fruitless process trying to second guess what they're doing & even more so...why. In many cases, due to legal reasons, a lender will decide they need to foreclose & due to confidentiality restraints they aren't supposed to discuss those reasons with you, a potential buyer of the distressed property. Another potential reason to not accept an offer from a retail buyer...they have sold a "block" of REOs to an invester & the particular property you are interested in is contained within that block. The lender has to foreclose to clear title before completing the transaction with the investor. We're seeing many more block invester sales now than 6-months ago. Anyway, it really is wasted energy trying to project your logic onto an institution that has a larger picture as their focus instead of an individual sale. Cash or financing? Well, there's financing & then there's "financing". Cash is cash no matter where it comes from. If you present an offer on a distressed property accompanied by a Commitment Letter you're set to go when you find a property that suits your needs. If you, instead, submit a Pre-approval Letter...well, that's really not worth the paper it's written on. For instance, we have an open Commitment Letter from our bank that allows us to purchase property(s) up to a certain amount based on our personal guarantee (no collateral). After we close, we give a first mortgage to our bank releasing the personal guarantee portion of the Commitment for another property purchase. That loan may contain up to a certain number of these properties obtained via just personal guarantee at any one time. How do you get a loan with just a personal guarantee? Well, again as I've been saying for a long time here, it pays large rewards to develop a "relationship" with a bank over a period of years rather than always shopping for the elusive "lowest rate, lowest fees". All I have to do is phone my bank & tell them I'm submitting an offer on such & such property & need a check in whatever amount on the closing date...I've got 45 days from the funding date to provide a lien. We've earned the bank's trust. It's a win-win for both of us. brickeye, "Let them stew a few more weeks and put in another offer through my attorney." I can assure you nobody at the bank is losing sleep over your offer & they are certainly not in a "stew". Executive management at the bank is entirely focused on the big picture. How a particular property fits into that puzzle only the bank knows. That's one of the reasons David, me, & others harp here regularily that to purchase a short or foreclosure from a bank requires a completely dispassionate approach. Interjecting what seems logical to a "nester" or even the small investor is almost guaranteed to be not relevant to the bank. I stress, again, the bank's need to focus on not only a larger picture but a different picture entirely. The large lenders holding tens of thousands of these bad loans have set-up varying proccesses to move that inventory off the books. But, even so, at any given time a single property may (or may not) fit into the "guidelines". A property's classification can change overnight suddenly making it difficult, or impossible, to purchase. For example, the bank has multiple loans to the same borrower (CC, mortgage, HELCO, car, boat). A restructure agreement is reached with the borrower & foreclosing on the real estate is necessary to clear up title. Or, a borrower sues the bank. That would halt everything until bank counsel has had an opportunity to review the validity of the suit. There are just so many reasons a bank suddenly decides to not offer a short sale...it's impossible to list all of them. I'm far more amazed at how many are actually closing than the fact some get stalled out mid-process. /tricia

I live in Florida, in Miami specifically. Jane please understand that one HUGE factor, aside from any of the technicalities you are trying to figure out, is that this state is absolutely inundated with problem mortgages, underwater owners, short sale and foreclosure properties. And because this state is one of the ground zero areas for the housing crisis it is also swarming with vulture investors which are individuals or groups or investment firms looking to buy distressed properties at a deep discount (usually condos but sometimes land or SFH complexes), individuals like you and your husband, international speculators looking for cheap vacation/second home properties and any number of shady characters looking to feed off the detritus of all the above activity. In other words, it is a royal and enormous mess down here in Florida right now. Yes, there are certainly good deals to be had. But as others have warned you it is NOT a situation you can or should expect to manage according to whatever the letter of the law might read. Especially living in another state with no knowledge or insight into Florida real estate. This isn't meant to be disrespectful or rude but you as an individual contemplating a fantastic Florida bargain house are one of literally millions thinking the same thing. Believe me, if it were super easy we residents would know about it. It ain't. Good luck but please be wary, be careful and keep educating yourself.

In response to brick eye: Our offer was accepted on March 19th, not December 26th. As a second Back-up offer, we ended up getting the house after 2 other deals fell through. Never thought we would end up getting the house! This was a good experience for us as our wait was only 2 months. Pros of our short sale: saved about 10 percent under market value and got the perfect house for us. The buyers before us did most of the waiting and we were able to look at other houses until bank approval. Cons: Waiting and not sure if bank would approve us Short sales can be a good deal for someone who can wait and does not need to sell their home first. You need to be a positive person as well and be in for a long wait and a lot of unknowns. We will not be celebrating until we actually close. I have heard of deals not closing at the last minute. Thanks brick eye for allowing me to clarify! :)

It is apparent that the majority of people on this forum are uneducated on the short sale process and loss mitigation companies (and possibly real estate in general). I am a local York, PA Investor typically purchasing and selling 50-60 properties a year. I am very active in the York Dauphin and Cumberland Counties. I typically find the majority of my properties thru short sale and I always use Sure Thing Short Sales to negotiate. (I refuse to use anyone else..) I've completed 30+ short sales with this company and have been 100% satisfied. They are always available, very quick to respond, and have a 24/7 back end system for buyers, sellers, agents, etc. to log in and see process of the short sale at any time of the day. The back en system also allows access to all documents pertaining to your specific short sale. They are very good with setting expectations and disclosing all items pertaining to a short sale. When it comes to pricing, Sure Thing Short Sales is the most cost effective compared to other negotiation companies across the US. If you research short sale mitigation companies in Pennsylvania or any other state you will notice a typical “minimum fee” that tends to be a minimum of $4,000.00 (and increases from there) A lot of the times these other companies will also request for the buyer, or whoever is paying for the fee, to pay outside of closing.. (mind you.. All Sure Thing Short Sales costs are ON THE HUD and disclosed to all parties) I've seen companies in york county charging as much at $8,000.00 for a $60,000.00 property -- now compare that to the services of Sure Thing Short Sales who would charge $600.00 for the same $60,000.00 property. Sure Thing Short Sales helps homeowners, realtors, attorneys, lenders, and practically anyone else who needs short sale services. Their fees for me have always been 1.000% of the purchase price... (buy a 30,000.00 home it costs you 300.00 ��' that’s a steal, especially considering at times Sure Thing Short Sales work on files for 90 days or more.) Don’t be sold by these realtors who “understand short sales” or “promise to complete your short sale”. If they do not have extensive training or past experience, the odds are the short sale will not get completed. Think of it this way.. When you hire a doctor you want to ensure they specialize in the type of surgery you are having done.. You want to make sure they didn’t just “take a class” and completed 3 or 4 surgeries. You would want an experienced doctor who has completed many many surgeries. Sure thing Short Sales in this case is your “experienced doctor” They completed so many short sales they understand the process, have the correct forms, the correct disclosures, and ultimately the contacts within the foreclosing lenders. I would recommend to view the website or contact the owner, Billie May (Call the office and request to speak with her.. she is down to earth and easy to work with). It may also be a good idea to research prior to calling something a “SCAM” - Sure thing Short Sales has always been a great resource in my investments, and I am sure they have many other people who feel as highly of them as I do.. Michael. Here is a link that might be useful: Sure Thing Short Sales of York, PA