Short Sale Contract Changes

[G Simpson]

I submitted an offer on a short sale (great deal) in Phoenix a month ago. The sellers accepted the offer and it has been fowarded to Countrywide. Earlier this week I was contacted by my agent and she said the sellers have decided to take the appliances with them (even though they are listed in our contract). Should I resubmit a new offer at a lesser price or would this scare off Countywide. I dont want to lose the deal but they just basically took 5k+ out of my pocket. I am the only offer in on the sale due to certain listing circumstances. Comments?

[Larry Moore]

Personally, I would hold the realtor's feet to the fire and remind her that the contract requires that the appliances stay, or does she endorse her client's violation of the contract she had them sign? If the realtor came back and said that the sellers really needed them for their new home, I would tell her that she then will need to submit a new lower offer to Countrywide to account for the lost appliances (assuming that the realtor is handling the negotiation, otherwise, I would tell her that I will be submitting the lower offer). Bottom line, this situation just made it more difficult to negotiate a successful short sale. I would ask her to go back to the sellers with that new information (I would prefer to speak with them myself) and see if they still need to take the appliances. If yes, then I would look at my numbers one more time and decide if I need to reduce my offer. Even if you played hardball and said a contract is a contract and the appliances are staying, if the seller really needs them, they will probably disappear before closing.