Short sales are a big part of selling real estate in Southwest Florida since about 2006 when the real estate bubble burst. Short sales can be a tedious process which involves challenging hurdles such as communications with banks, lawyers and other real estate professionals. Many times the buyers feel that they are being ignored because of poor communication and very often they abandoned the sale and move on to the next purchase.
See our Naples Florida Short Sales Buyers Guide.
The short sale process can take from a few months to several months depending on how willing the banks are and how organized the professionals are in dealing with the banks. In short, a short sale is when the seller of real property will not receive enough money from the sale of their property to cover their debt to the bank or banks. Very often short sales are occupied by the owners would have in many cases defaulted on the obligation to the bank and now live rent free in the home and can be difficult to deal with because they obviously enjoy staying in the home as long as possible. There is no guarantee that even after several months of negotiations that the bank will come to an agreement and for you a sale price which could mean a lot of wasted time and an emotional roller coaster ride.
These are tricky real estate transactions and I would strongly suggest that you hire an attorney to oversee the paperwork being presented to you up to the closing of the property. The additional cost of an attorney can be as little as a few hundred dollars that is worth 100 times more than that for the peace of mind that you are not acquiring someone else’s debt. On the bright side, short sale transactions can be priced even lower than bank owned properties, also known as real estate owned properties, which makes short sale purchasing an attractive investment opportunity.