When I first started doing short sales in 2006 it used to take anywhere from nine to eighteen months to get a short sale completed but things have dramatically changed, particularly with my team. We have really perfected and streamlined the process and are getting through our short sales anywhere from 60 to 90 days; the shortest amount of time it has taken us to complete our short sale was 30 days and that was with a Wachovia fast track process. We’ve got a lot of banks on board and many are working with Equator, a software system that’s used to upload documents. Instead of faxing over documents like we used to, today everything is streamlined, digital and environmentally friendly. It’s really decreased the timeframe. For those real estate agents that aren’t as seasoned in doing short sales, it still may take them a long time to get through the process. You can tell when someone isn’t skilled or have the expertise in doing short sales because they’re stuck. After 8-9 months they’re typically still waiting to be approved and sometimes they don’t even get approval. It’s really important that when you look for a professional to help you with your short sale that you qualify them. Make sure they have the expertise to get you through the process. In today’s real estate world it shouldn’t take more than 6-9 months to complete a short sale; this of course depends on the number of loans, tax judgments, credit judgments, tax liens, etc. It can be a very complex process but typically your timeline is somewhere between 90-120 days.
If you have further questions on completing a short sale or want to know if a short sale is right for you, please contact us at Toni Patillo & Associates or check out our home valuation tool at 123BreakEven.com.