Home buyers, sellers in foreclosure and real estate investors have long complained about the ridiculously long amount of time it has taken for banks and mortgage loan servicers to process short sales. Finally it seems everyone might be getting their wish, whether they end up really enjoying what they asked for or not.
Short sales are speeding up!
Bank of America recently announced that its new online platform for processing short sales will cut decision times down to just 20 days from 45 days or much longer previously. However, it also means real estate agents will only have 5 days to submit new offers if a deal falls apart.
Following on the is lead Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have also come out announcing that they are also expecting their loan servicers to dramatically cut down their processing time for short sales in an effort to speed up the movement on delinquent loans and foreclosures. The new requirements will demand decisions to be made on short sales within 30 days, though in some cases this may be stretched out to 60 days.
Freddie Mac alone processed 45,623 short sales last year and we may see even more this year. Faster short sales are good and bad for real estate investors. Despite complaints about the amount of time it has been taking to close deals and make profits, the truth is this allowed investors to get the best deals and do a lot of maneuvering during wait times.
Short sales remain great for sellers for whom it may be the last chance to get some cash out of their homes to walk away with and avoid the worst consequences of a real foreclosure. However, sellers also need to be ready to move and looking for new digs extremely quickly.
