Can I Change Short Sale Negotiators?

[Kevin Jornlin]

As a buyer of a short sale property, I just learned that there is a 3% short sale specialist fee, which the buyer is responsible for paying. This fee adds up to $18k, which seems very high to me. I didn't hire the short sale specialist - I assume either the seller or the bank did, so it seems crazy that I have to pay it. What are my options?

BTW - our initial response was to just lower our offer by $18k but the bank won't accept that. We offered $615k, which they WOULD accept but only if we paid the short sale specialist fee. The house appraised for $670k, so we're still getting a deal even with the fee. But I'm just wondering if we can get that fee lowered. Thanks!

[Jonathan R McLaughlin]

Despite the layers of banking lingo, at the end of the day the bank will accept a price that works for them. Their internal needs and policies change all the time. It is much more systamatized than back in the day when there were waves of these and banks were scrambling.

Not exactly sure where you are in the transaction, but you can definitely lower your offer to account for the fee. They may or may not accept it. They may refuse it and come back to you, they may go to another buyer, they may put it back on the market.

If you choose to lower, I would definitely put something on paper describing how the total cost cannot work for you and offering some evidence. It might serve as a CYA for a banker to have that in the file.