Short sales—the good, the bad and the ugly

We have had some nice success with our buyers purchasing properties which are in a short sell position—where the owner still has title to the property but is coming to the table “short” of the full amount owed to the lender(s). This process requires the lender to “approve” the short sale and let the seller of the hook. But we have had some absolute nightmares with some short sales. In two recent transactions our sellers have been put through the meat grinder by Chase and Navy Federal in getting approval for their short sales. Chase has been the worst taking over 6 months from the seller’s first request for help. In the case of Navy Federal, our client had an account with them since birth and was given shoddy treatment. Both clients had gotten into the position they were in due to job loss and job transfer. Their homes dropped in value by almost 20%. They went to the banks right away when they found they were in trouble.