Need to have the house listed for the band to approve a short?

[Robert Kriedermann]

I haven't done any short sales in 5 years. I flipped only a couple beck then.  I have a seller that reached out to me that needs to do one to sell his property. I had been declining working on short sales but other investors have flaked out on this guy I'd like to help him out.

Do you need to list the house in order for the bank to approve the sale? Back in the day I know investors used to put options on the properties and then list the house for sale. It would be the investor's listing for finding a buyer for after the bank approved the sale but the listing would be submitted with the bank package as if it was the short seller's "a to b" listing looking for a buyer. The short seller's buyer was really the investor making the offer and that listing was the investor's listing looking for the "b to c" buyer. It always felt shady to me.

I intend to take title of this property after the short sale is approved. Can I just submit the offer with the seller's hardship package or do I need to get a realtor to list the house and go through the motions of pretending as if it was that listing that found me as the buyer?