This agent says the bank wont ALLOW a short sale?

[Stanley Okazaki]

There's a property listed on the MLS that I've been watching on the market for a while. It's listed at market value and there is no disclosure that specifies it being a short sale or foreclosure. In the agent remarks the agents wrote "VERY MOTIVATED SELLER WILL LOOK AT ALL OFFERS". I gave the agent a call and she explained to me that the owner is a widow & has fallen behind on his mortgage payments.

I give her a verbal offer of 65K cash and she says that's too low he owes more than it's work. I ask her about the possibility of doing a short sale and she tells me the bank won't ALLOW (not to get confused with approve) a short sale. 

I'm not very experienced with short sales so can someone explain to me why the bank wouldn't ALLOW a short sale?

P.S I sent a letter to the owner and he gave me a call back telling me he just wants to get out of the property & pay off his mortgage. Maybe the owner is the one that is opposed to a short sale because he feels he can sell the property at market value and pay off the mortgage?