Navigating a short sale deal from scratch

[Silvio L.]

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to throw out a situation I'm dealing with now and get some input on how I should proceed. I recently went to see a property in my neighborhood that I am sure is a great deal. ARV = 333k and the property needs about 75k in repairs. The owner is very motivated to sell BUT it's going to wind up being a short sale deal. Here are some details:

The property belongs to an estate and the daughter of the deceased is the administratrix. After her mother passed the family was unable to pay the mortgage and they tried selling the property but were unsuccessful. Since then the family has moved and the property was left vacant. She is very much willing to do a short sale.  

When I met with her she gave me the following documents:  mortgage statement from January of this year (the most current one she had). The administrator certificate proving she is the administratrix, a discharge notice for a junior lien. 

mortgage statement says:

unpaid principal balance: 121k

unpaid advance: 3k

escrow balance: 15k

I checked the public records and confirmed that there are no other liens and that a pis pendens was filed In April of this year. 

I want to lock this property up and get a short sale approved somewhere close to 120k. Problem is I've never worked a short sale deal. I have no idea what needs to happen but I need to learn quick. Here's what I'm thinking so far: 

Get the property under contract with seller for 120k. 

Have seller sign an "authorization to release loan information" 

Get my title company to go to work on figuring out exactly what's owed... 

Then I get stuck. Am I then supposed to call a realtor? I know the banks send an agent to do the BPO, and a big part of negotiating the short sale is convincing the BPO agent that the property needs a ton of work and should be discounted. So should I start looking for an agent to help with his? I do know one agent I can call but I should probably get it under contract first, right? 

Any / all suggestions would be appreciated. 

Thanks!