Time of Day...
Best advice I can give you is to find a good real estate agent who has good experience in buying short sales. Sorry to pass the buck, but do yourself a favor and learn the process from them. If they are experienced they will know, BOA will take $.87 on the $1, Wachovia will take ______ etc etc. they will also know who to call that is the decision maker at the banks. If you call the bank and say, "Hey I want to buy a short sale," you will always get a rude reply.
If you can't find a good agent, look for a good local real estate attorney or even a real estate investor group, like a REIA, to suggest help you. You also need to talk to your CPA about tax ramifications for buying a short sale. Either way, if its listed on MLS as a short sale and the listing agent is clueless, the sellers agent could mess up the transaction. That's what typically happens.
Essentially to buy a short sale, the seller has to have authorization from their lender to make a short sale. The owner of the home will need to be in default and not currently making any payments whatsoever. If they have a 2nd on the house, you have to start the negotiating process with the 2nd lender. Either way, beware of the seller enticing you to give them money to work with you on a short sale. That's fraud and is simply not worth it IMO.
Anyway, best advice, find an agent or someone locally with experience. Short sales are complicated but worth it if the sun, moon and stars align and you can pull it off. However in this market you might have just as much success with low-balling...at least we are.
GLTY
Ren
"Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn." C.S. Lewis
www.younglife.org
