Sticky situation on short sale transaction

[Joshua Gutierrez]

Greetings,

I’m in a bit of a sticky situation. I’ve been working a short sale transaction for 14 months now. There are two liens on the home. First is Specialized Loan Services and the second is Wells Fargo. I have an approved payoff for Wells Fargo, however, SLS has been such a headache. I have an offer into them at 235k, which is exactly what their BPO is. The buyer that offered at this price has been hanging tight since January 12, 2020 (7 months!). Here’s where it gets sticky. I received an offer for 245k yesterday, which would eliminate having to do a short sale on the first lien with SLS. I know I can get this in escrow rather quickly with that offer. Both buyers are strong buyers. I just feel bad because I know this offer will boot out the buyer that’s been waiting for 7 months. On the flip side I feel I need to look out for the best interest of the seller (my client), and avoiding a short sale on the first lien is definitely in the sellers best interest. What do you all think?

[Mike B.]

You have to present the second offer. Your duty is to your client, not any of the buyers. The fact is, the original buyer could have raised his offer the $10k and not left the opportunity for someone else to come in and get the property.