Thank you everyone for your replies thus far. Just having gone through the short sale process as an agent, I am just convinced there is a better way of doing things and that investing in short sales is actually a service to the real estate market. I have had too many deals fall apart because the buyer couldn't wait on an approval, or the buyer wasn't willing to concede a few thousand dollars to meet the bank demands, and so on and so on. Getting a short sale approval actually adds a tremendous amount of value to a home. I know, I have had listings in which agents have called bank and cancelled the appointment once they found out it was a short sale.
That is my motivation. I know I can at least get the home to the position of being short sale approved with a bank price and be able to profit by selling a now clear title home to a willing buyer quickly.
Jackie, do you know of any investor friendly attorneys in the Chicagoland area that you can refer. I have gone through the process many times as a realtor with lots of fustration. However, I as an investor, could afford to wait until the deals could be achieved.
I know lots of people that have negative equity and are behind on payments and would love to sell their home short. Sure, I could take the listing, put it in the MLS, hope a realtor shows the home, put an offer on the home and watch them walk away because it takes 6 months.... OR, I could put an offer in on day 1, have a negotiator work the bank, make sure I meet the BPO agent, get the bank price and start to market the home at a price that it can sell to an end buyer in 30 - 60 days. Win-Win for all.
