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Now, if a buyer has an attorney and not a title company, they will be told that they are not responsible to pay these costs that the seller must find the money and the deal will typically die there. On top of this, attorneys do not want to spend money to find out what the true closing costs will be on lien searches, etc., until the seller's bank has approved the short sale. However, the bank will not approve without the preliminary closing statement from the attorney. Without spending the money up front, the prelim closing statement will not be correct and you will run into a slew of issues before closing and again, it will most likely not close. This has happened several times in my office. One thing to remember: Get a title company and not an attorney if you actually want to close the deal.

2.) This is also not negotiated with the seller, but with the seller's bank.  The bank will not agree to a price that is not the current market value. They are only willing to lose money if the price that it is being sold for is true market value and the true appriasal value has dropped. So, for those of you thinking that you are going to get a deal, think again. You are getting it for what it's actually worth and no less. Many agents simply take short sales and put an attractive price on them to get buyers but they really have no idea what they are doing and have not researched the market value. When the contract is sent to the bank and finally reviewed, which takes 60 to 90 days, it will be rejected and everyone will have just lost their time.

3.) A short sale takes 60 to 90 days to be reviewed. It is not an easy process. You must begin on your side prior to the banks approval and spend money for something that may not happen. Some of the seller's banks require you to have your loan approval before they will even look at the contract for price approval. This means you must pay your appraisal money and inspection money first and take a chance.

I hope that this helps anyone out there that is thinking of buying a home right now in this market. For the most part, it is better to have your agent negotiate with a seller than with a bank. Just remember, if it seems to good to be true, it usually is and always consult an agent that works for a well known company prior to buying your new home!