I’m glad to hear that some people are having luck with short sales … maybe it’s just the astonishing underwater-ness of the area I’m looking in, or the particular subprime lenders that I’m working with. Or maybe I’m just running into the wrong listing agents 🙂
I do curse the “experts” who advised prospective short sellers to let their houses go to crap in order to lower its perceived value, e.g. don’t mow the lawn, don’t paint the trim, let the fungus take over the shower, don’t worry about those critters munching on your framing, etc. One way or another we’ll all be paying the price for that sort of “advice.”