Buying a short sale for personal residence

[Dan Ross]

My wife and I just submitted an offer on a house here in Spokane that is being offered as a short sale. This would be our first home. The homeowners have a medical hardship and the bank, Ocwen, owns the first and second mortgages. They feel Ocwen has been very fair to them up to this point.

The house is in decent shape except that it is dated and needs new paint, carpet, appliances and roof. We made an offer that is 22% below list price and Zillow. We feel this could be a good deal for everybody involved. Our agent and I put together a list of updates/improvements that need to be made in order to get it up to date. In addtion we have several good comps in the area we sent in with the offer.

We would probably live in the house for at least 5 years until we are in a position to build.

I am looking for any tips or advice on our situation.

-Has anybody here dealt with Ocwen? How did it go? How long did it take to hear back from them?

-Is there anything we can do to help speed up the process?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.