Short Sales

[Lois Agbor]

Can someone help explain to me what short sales are? Will really appreciate it. 

Thanks

[Brent Coombs]

@Lois Agbor, it's where the current market value would leave the Lender "short" of some of the money they are owed. Another way of saying it is: when the owner is "upside down".

In short sales, the "owner" won't be able to complete the sale without their Lenders' agreement on the sale price. In general, Banks won't want to lose any more dollars than they have already, so will aim to sell as close to market value as possible. Therefore, their contracts are usually restrictive.

Oh, and to get such a sale approved, first in principle, then in practice, can take a long long time!

(Anyway, that's a summary of what I've read on many related threads here on BP). Cheers...