The short sale timeline can vary based on the following things:

• The number of liens on the property

• Who are the lienholders?

• Will the buyer perform once the short sales approved?

• Will the seller be cooperative in providing updated paperwork as needed?

• Is the short sales specialist handling the sale properly?

On average the time it takes to close a short sale is anywhere from 3 to 6 months. Sometimes it can take up to a year or longer.

After submitting a short sale package to the bank including a purchase contract, it’s usually 30 to 60 days before the file is assigned to a loss mitigator. Once it’s assigned to a loss mitigator you can expect it to take about a month to finalize negotiations.

Once all negotiations are finalized, you can expect the rest of the process to take approximately another 30 days.

If a notice of trustee sale was already recorded, expect the sale date to be postponed many times. It’s very stressful when you have a sale date quickly approaching. The bank does not have to postpone the sale. However, since reaching a short sale agreement is usually a win-win for everyone, the bank is almost always willing to push back the trustee sale.

In our harsh economy many people are facing foreclosure. Thus, loss mitigators are overloaded with work, and the departments are short in staff. One loss mitigator could have more than 200 files in process at one time. The bank will not review a short sale request unless a full package is submitted. This includes an offer to purchase and all required documents. It’s critical that during the process the borrower probably delivers any needed paperwork including updated pay stubs and bank statements.

Borrowers failing to promptly deliver this paperwork to their short sales specialist make up the number one reason for delay.