All Forum Posts by: Roy Rowlett

This is my first short sale experience, although I sold real estate for 14 years as a Realtor as well as an investor. The biggest difference seems to me is the apparent fact that no one seems to know what the other parties know. No one seems to know what the bank will take, and no one knows what arrangements, if any, have been made between the bank and the seller. At least that is what I am hearing. I may the only one in the dark. The other complication is that this house is in The Villages, FL, and that market has not felt the down turn like most of the rest of the country. This makes finding a "deal" that much harder. The house is for me to live in, so I also have to remain unemotional. I shutter to think what a non-Realtor person would think of this process. Maybe that is to my advantage to know how to cope with complex deals. One good thing in my case is that I am licensed in FL and can represent myself and get half the commission. The down side is I don't know how to advise myself very well in this case.
Thanks again for all of your advice.

Thanks to all. What I don't understand is what good will it do to include comps that indicate a 10%-15% higher value than my offer? The only way I see that it would help is if the bank accepts the notion that a short sale is usually well below market value. Am I missing something?

If I collect the best comps, they will be defining market value. If I want to get it at 15% below market value, my comps won't justify my offer. Do the banks accept that much of a reduction because it is a short sale?

I am looking at a short sale that the bank has approved a price on of $180,000, which is the listing price. There had been a contract on it which fell through because the buyer's situation changed and he could not close.
I asked the listing agent if the price was negotiable and she responded, "the bank approved $180,000". I assume this means that the previous offer was for $180,000. She said they could close quickly because it was already approved. I interpret this to mean that if I pay $180,000, we could close quickly. I also assume that the listing agent might not be excited about accepting a lower offer because it could mean starting the approval process all over again.
The problem is that $180,000 is only about 5% below market value, as I see it. I would expect to get it at 10-20% below. Does anyone think that making an offer less than $180,000 would be a bad idea? I have time to wait. I don't know who the lender is. I am aware that someone may come along and pay the $180,000, but that is life. "I care, but not that much" - the mark of a good negotiator.