Yes short sales are a test of your patience. ESPECIALLY right now. Look right now we are in a rally mode. The stock market is rallying, and the housing market is more active then at anytime in the past 3 years. In my judgement we are not near a bottom in either of those entities however trying to tread water against those currents is something that I do not recommend. You also have sellers who are still very very short sighted.
As far as the short sale goes you need to just fire and forget. You make the offer on the short sale, you hope for the best, but you should not invest in it emotionally because more often then not you get a negative result. Will you get a better deal? Sometimes yes and sometimes no.
You have to ask yourself, “What am I looking for?” If you are just looking for a good deal, then eventually you will find it. The law of averages will catch up right? Submit 20 offers and one out of those 20 should come through if you are competitive with the rest of the market. The main problem is that now you are seeing other buyers pay what do not, or will not pay. So don’t fight it, just sit out and let time pass. If you are looking for a home that you really love, then maybe approach it differently and be prepared, (in this current market) to pay more.
The problem with buying a house because it is a “a bargain” is that it is only a bargain at that point in time. It will not be a bargain in the future if the market continues to go down. It doesn’t matter if it is a short sale or not.
Try not to get burned out… taking a break from it all never hurts either.
