Coldwell Banker

[Mary R.]

Does anyone know how Caldwell Banker does with their short sales? A friend has an offer on one of their short sales, and they haven't done anything on it. She's had the offer on for 5-6 months.
Is Caldwell doing the same as BofA as far as holding properties and selling them as REO's instead?
Should she hold on for a while or look elsewhere?
MRead

[Jon Holdman]

Look elsewhere. I'd never count on being able to buy any specific short sale (or REO). It takes lots of offers to buy one property. If your friend makes one offer and waits six months, they will be at this process for years.

[Don Konipol]

Do you mean Coldwell Banker? They are a real estate brokerage firm, not a lender or owner of real estate. As agent for a seller or buyer, they can only present an offer to the party they represent, not accept or reject it. Perhaps I am not understanding you correctly?

[Mitch Kronowit]

Jon and Don both make excellent points. Coldwell Banker is probably just the listing agent for the house. It's up to the lender to approve the short sale.

And in this market, you can't just make one offer and sit on it. Last summer, we made 3 offers to get one house (an REO) and we were considered lucky. The investors I know buying short sales use the "shotgun" approach, i.e., they probably make 50 offers, get 10 under contract, and perhaps get a SS approval for 1.