Short sale taking forever

[Chad Skiles]

I put a house under contract at the end of May.  It was a short sale so we specified a closing date within 60 days.  We also specified that the 8 day inspection period would begin after the bank approved the sale.  After six weeks, the bank finally started working on it to get it approved for a short sale.  At the end of July, we signed an extension of the contract to close by the end of September.  

About mid-September, my real estate agent called me.  She asked me if I could close a few days before the end of the month.  I figured the next step was to do a final inspection to make sure there was nothing else wrong with the house that I didn't already know about.  So we set a tentative date, and I got an inspection.  We found out that the electrical had to be upgraded for about $1200, but no new problems came up.  We amended the price by $2500.  One day after the contract "expired", I signed another extension for a closing date by November 30th.  Since then my agent has been very quiet.  She still hasn't sent me copies of the price amendment and extension signed by the seller.  She hasn't contacted me unless I contact her first.  

In early December, I emailed her asking her if we needed to sign another extension.  She said the seller's agent was working on it and she would be in touch with me.  

After a couple weeks, I email her for updates.  She said that the other agent was constantly trying to get the bank to move towards closing.  She said they had never had a bank move that slowly.  

In late December, I email her reminding her that we still hadn't signed an extension.  She said the other agent would get it sent out.

I still haven't heard anything from her.  This is my first deal so I don't know how it should work.  Is this situation unusual?  Should I be concerned that the contract has expired over a month ago?  Should I let this go and get my earnest back?  I really want to get started investing in RE, but my money is tied up waiting on this house to close.

[Taylor Shields]

How good of a deal is it? You are already in this far, if the numbers are good and you are getting a great discount it may be worth it to hold on. 

There is certainly an opportunity cost due to the long timeline, However, this is not uncommon with Short Sales. In fact, this should be expected. What shouldn't be expected is your agents poor communication and seeming lack of resolve. Should you consider doing short sales agian I would recommend finding an agent that has made it their bread and butter for the past several years. You need to have someone that is intimately familiar with the process, preferably one that has done them for investors regularly.  Most agents don't have an in depth understanding of short sales and doing a retail short sale is much different from doing one for an investor. Not to mention most short sale certification classes are a joke.