[quote=bearishgurl]
Since we still seem to have a ways to go to “wade” thru “short sales,” reform is needed in this area, IMO.
[/quote]
Have you bought a short sale? I have. The process reminds me of a quote from a hairband in the 80s that described getting a record deal in LA as akin to swimming an Olympic pool of flaming sewage just to get to the point where you got to crawl through broken glass.
Again, looking at the very few sales, from a $/sf, the lack of conveyances, I don’t think this is a steal. A fairly average actually.
The buyer in the shortsale in addition to kicking in the cash to the 2nd (we did on ours too), probably also got to either forgo certain contingencies (like termite), or pay for the termite, pay for termite repairs and gets to fix any other issues not identified in the previous owner photos. I’ve been in many shortsales where the photos are the photos from when the ‘owner’ was trying to sell and the pig still had lipstick. Once the owner moves out or once it moves to a real short sale, you’d be surprised what kind of mess no appliances, a removed outdoor BBQ are.
That’s just my rant. I’m sure short sale agents have their own rants. And SDR has his rants. They’re all valid. The reality is, in my case, well, my agent convinced their agent, that convinced their seller, that we were the buyers that really had the money to do the deal and the stamina to swim the pool of filth, roll out the flames and crawl through the broken glass to get it done and knew that it was going to be a 90+ days process and likely 6 months.
BTW, IMHO, 20% isn’t enough to buy a shortsale. If you want to buy an $800K shortsale, you need $160K for the down, and $200K is better. You need another $100K sitting around for the close, the 2nd contribution, and the little sundries. You may not use it all, but you better have it. You then need to be a no-brainer on the loan app, and already pre-approved. By no brainer, I mean, you’ll probably lift the skirt to show the assets with the offer, so that the first holder knows it’s a no brainer.
So after you pull that $300K out to do the deal, the bank, the agents, and the sellers want to see that there is still plenty of bankroll left, or they’re know you’re too tapped to do the deal.
