Real Estate Lingo Translation

[John Phippen]

Hi, I'm John and even though I'm continually looking, I'm still a newbie.  And, no, this isn't my introduction.  I've found a home within 2 hours from my home and I emailed the listing agent about it.  Her reply was as follows:

"The house is still for sale, it's a short sale and we have offers in but the bank is very slow to respond. The lot is .60, the house needs some work and the asking price is $51,000. The offers that are in are good offers, it's all in the banks hands."

I'd like to email her back with a bunch of questions, but I don't want to sound too much like the newbie that I am.  Thus my post, today.

She says they have offers in.  Does that mean other potential buyers have asked her to put offers in?  Then, she tells me the price which makes me think there's still a chance for me to put in an offer.  And then she tells me that the offers in are all good ones.  Notice the plural on offers.

What I'd like to do is go tour it so that I can see the condition and finish analyzing the deal, but I don't really want to ask if I can arrange a tour if there's no hope.  (It's a pride thing--you know--I'm trying not to look too stupid.  I can look stupid here at BP, because you're all family, right?)

The home is in a college town and I could potentially rent it to college students.  There aren't many hotels/motels in the area, either, so I could also potentially make it a vacation rental for parents coming in to see their kids.  It's on a deep lot, so I could potentially make it a flag lot, build another structure on the new lot and do both (renting to students and to vacationers).

So, anyone speak the short sale dialect of real estate agentese who could help translate for me and save my pride?