Buying a House through Short Sale

[Albert Severino]

How does a Short Sale work?

[John Warren]

@Albert Severino I was able to buy my current home in North Riverside as a short sale at over a 30% discount. I have personally benefited greatly from buying short sales, and short sales often times offer nice discounts on market prices. 

Essentially, when you buy a short sale the current owner is selling the property for less than they owe on it. This means that the lender that is holding the note must agree to the purchase as well as the seller. If the sellers agent and attorney know what they are doing, they will have begun negotiating with the bank early in the process. Once your purchase offer is accepted by the seller, it goes to someone at the bank who also must approve it. This can trigger a second round of negotiations, which some buyers are unaware can happen. 

Once the bank accepts the price, the transaction proceeds pretty much just like a regular one from the buyers perspective. Short sales have received a reputation as being tough and taking a long time to close because a lot of agents and attorneys don't really know how to do them. I work with a seasoned attorney on short sales who has done literally thousands of them here in the Chicago suburbs. This allows us to keep the process very tight on the seller end.