One short sale I lost out on, we were the first offer.. but before they got done signing our forms, another couple came in and promised the people living there a house swap (i.e., offered their current home as a rental to the current occupants), which was in the same neighborhood / kids stay in school, etc. That’s when we discovered what you’re discovering.. short sale is a unique circumstance where the current owners/occupants could care less what you want to pay for the home, but may be open to anything you can do for them.. they are unfortunately the gate keepers of what offer gets sent to the bank (the listing agent is their agent, not the banks). And then, of course, we found out later the deadbeats couldn’t even afford the rent on what the buyers wanted on their old home.. so the whole reason the other people cut in line evaporated. After that experience, short sales got a dim view in our eyes as just too shady. We were ready to play the “waiting game”; less prepared for the bribery part 🙂 Maybe a more dedicated buyer than we were could of somehow contacted the bank and worked around the current owners, but we didn’t pursue that.
