I handle a lot of short sales and the single most important thing I look for is an agent that stays in touch with me regulalrly during the approval process. In the typical short sale, I submit an offer to a lender I think will get approved AND that I beleive is at a price I can replicate. If some lunatic buyer submits a crazy high offer, I dont want to submit that one because if approved I then have to find another fool who can do the same. I’d much rather get an approval at a reasonable price and then go back to fool after I have the approval to see if they are still there.
In most cases, buyer #1 is gone and I have an approved short sale without a buyer. I then get to pick who gets the house in most cases among a handful of buyers who are still interested. Sometimes, I have a buyer that will pay more than the approval amount, sometimes I have to go back to the group and say here’s the price, who wants it and sometimes I have to bring a lower offer.
Regardless, the agent that has stayed in touch through the 30 to 60 days it takes me to get the approval stands the best chance of getting the house for their buyer.
