I think it all depends on multiple factors. I am in an Escrow on a short sale. It took about 1 1/2 month for banks to accept my offer. But supposedly it was relatively short because the house had already started the short sale process 3 month prior with another offer but Buyer had moved on by the time the Banks were ready to review the offer. So when I submitted my offer it was “ahead of line” of sorts.

Still it was pain. Dealing with both banks’ negotiators were not a fun experience.

I am hearing rumors that Short Sales are getting processed faster. Also, I think with Short Sales, you are not competing against too many “Investors” with all cash. I don’t think they want to tie up their funding for months and months on a deal that might not come through. So that takes a little pressure off the multiple offer situations. And many people don’t want to wait long, so that deters a lot of potential competition.

So i think if you are patient and persistent, short sales is where the deals are at.