Short Sale - sequence of events

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I am attempting to do a short sale on a property that has negative equity.

The question is... should I negotiate with the lenders to get an idea of what, or if, they would short their position BEFORE I sign any agreement withe the current owners OR do I need to sign a P&S with the current owners and make it contingent on a successful short with the lender??

It seems to me if I sign an agreement with the current owners and THEN negotiate with the lenders...I'll need to go back and revise my ofering price if I can't get the lender to accept the price I stated to the current sellers. On the other hand, I also am not thrilled about negotiating a short with the lender, possibly doing a title search and then finding out after that the seller has no interest in working with me.

I'm a little stumped which comes first....do you sign a P&S and then negotiate with the lenders...OR..do you negotiate with the lenders and then sign an agreement with the owners??

I have done one where there was positive equity and it was a matter of simply negotiating with the owners on what they would take for their equity..but this one is a different animal...