Short Sales

Short sales take an average of 60-90 days once an offer is made. We sold a townhouse in a short sale. We listed it, had 15 people come to look and an offer was made 5 days after we listed it. That was in May we closed Sept. 20. Cash buyer who paid asking price, we just had a mortgage through a big bank that never needed a bailout so they take longer.

We are buying a short sale as well, we made the offer July 25 and close this Friday Oct 28. So a little over 90 days in both cases.

I would find a new place to live, and I would start looking now. If he's bringing a realtor in now he may not have a choice in honoring (or breaking) your lease agreement. Find a new place and talk to your landlord about getting out of your lease early if you find something sooner than December 31st. It would be a really good idea for you to protect yourselves in this way. My kid brother had to deal with this and his landlord was really great about letting him out of his lease three months early without penalty.

EDIT: Yes, to back up what others are saying... your landlord is doing a short sale because he owes more on the house now than when he bought the house. Do not buy this house. I think it would be a mistake for this particular situation.

A short sale is when the owner asks a lower then market price. Hoping that they will get multiple offers. This can take anywhere from 30 days to 6 months once an offer is made. Then the seller and the bank have to approve the price (the banks take forever). The down side is that your landlord can stop making payments and then within a few months it would foreclose and you would be out on the street that day.
I would start looking for another place to rent just in case.

Ours (we bought a house that was a short sale) took 4 (FOUR) months. Realtor told me 2-6 months.

Sorry, had a senior moment there (changed from 5)

They can be quick or take forever....My brother did one and they were done in 2 months as the bank was good with the offer. I had a friend who had an offer and after nearly 6 months or so the bank rejected it and there was no sale. It is really just an ify thing. Can you do a month to month lease once yours is up maybe?

Short sales generally take a long time to complete. If I were you, when December is up, sign a month-by-month lease. Tell him that you won't vacate the house quickly, leaving him in the lurch, unless he ups the rent.

So many short sales don't go through - the banks usually butcher them! So don't worry about between now and the end of December. I'll bet you can stay in this place through the end of the school year!

Dawn

We did a HAFA short sale & it took us almost a year from listing to sale - we listed mid Dec & closed the end of Aug but it could've gone as quickly as 3 months. It all depends on what type of short sale the sellers are doing. A traditional one tends to take longer because of the paperwork thru the banks, the banks tend to drag their feet longer. I don't know what rights you have in finding all of this out w/the bank. You may be able to fish around a little w/the realtor, not sure. But I wouldn't worry too much right now because the process does take quite a while with all that needs to be done and it does take the bank some time in even approving things. Good luck.

Just to clarify... A short sale is when the market value of the house is less than the debt or mortgage on the property. So it sounds like your landlord bought the home or took additional mortgages out on the home when the home values were still relatively high. The market ended up tanking and he found himself owing more on the property than what he could sell it for. No wonder he wants you to buy it!

Plan on finding something to move into in the next few weeks. Short sales can turn around in a matter of a week if the buyer has all of his/her financial ducks in a row. (That happend to a relative of mine who had to short sale)

The move-in date of course is up to the buyer and seller. But because winter IS coming, you can bet the buyer will WANT to move within a month of purchasing the home if they don't have any entanglements such as their current home hasn't sold yet (in this market unlikely but..), or aren't planning on renting it out themselves.

So, considering short sales are done when someone is up sh%& creek financially and trying to get from under mortgage debt before they're ruined, you can pretty much safely conclude, your landlord is going to jump on any viable offer he gets and agree to their wishes and desires to get the job done....NOT yours. Even with a lease, leases can be broken.

I hope you find something in your current neighborhood for the sake of your daughter. Sorry this is happening.

Hi Candace,

It could take a while or it could sell in a couple of weeks. The mere definition of short sale means he's lowering the price to shorten the time to sell it. If you have a lease you should be protected. He can always write into the sales contract that they have to honor your lease through it's last day. We have purchased like that before. I would go ahead and make plans to be moved by then. The promise not to move during the winter seems empty to me...

God bless,
M.

A short sale simply means that the house will be sold for less than the amount of the mortgage owed. The new owner will be able to take possession when your lease is terminated. A short sale/selling the home for less than what is owed, doesn't mean the landlord will not be responsible for the difference. I would advise against this and try to work something out with you, were I your landlord.

We listed our for a short sale in November 2010. Our house foreclosed in May 2011. We only had two people look at our house. We got two offers in April 2011 and the bank turned them both down. The bank sold our house in September 2011. It probably varies but this is how it worked for us.

Hey,
But yousad it yourself. You dont trust lanlord or whatnot. So start looking more intensely. In addition to craigslist there is www.militarybyowner.com
Make sure to read your lease again to see if theres not a loophole for landlord to kick you out before Dec 31st cause that would suck! There have been lots of evictions with forclosures & short sales & you don't want a rental eviction on your hands then you would have horrible time renting :( it might be time to think about not trying to stay in Chantilly. You could talk to daughter's school about her staying through school year & having to drive her back n forth. And since home's gonna be listing soon & a shortsale, there will be those appointment, ppl coming to look at the house & it's not always the best times or convenient for your family. Our realtor texted us hour before: got a showing ya know in an hpur can you be scarce & make sure house is clean etc. I didnt mind cuz she did her job & our house(reg sale) is under contract, but but keeping it clean & toy free constantly is a headache.
Good Luck during this unsure time,
Pammy

I heard 6 months average, but who knows.

We just went through this exact same scenario. Our landlord emailed to say the home was going through a short sale and asked if the realtor could come by THAT day to see the house and list it. We put him off for a couple days due to me being 7 months pregnant and not having done much house cleaning. The realtor put the house on the market and had a bunch of people come through to see it the next weekend. This only went on for 2 weekends. They received an offer and a backup offer and stopped having showings. This was in early May. When we moved out on Aug 31st the process was still in limbo with the bank. So that's 4 months and it wasn't near ready to be completed. Last we heard the bank had refused the offer and the house was going back on the market.

My daughter moved out of her daughter's school district several years ago and my granddaughter is able to still attend the same school. Her mother does have to take her because it's too far to walk and of course not on the bus line. It's been worth the extra transportation time.

if its priced right it could be offered for tomorrow and if the bank is faster than normal could close within the month. if not and the bank is slow like most it will be at least 6 months after someone even says they want it. so in guessing that puts us at 3 to 12 months. i'd assume you had til summer...most start looking for a house in spring time by the way so you may find something then. one thing i'd be afraid of was the bank telling you to get out. not sure of the situation but aparently your landlord owes more than the house is worth. it is cheaper to buy right now though with the interest rates so low. might be something to seriously look into. unless your credit is bad it's cheaper to buy if not the same price as renting.

We sold a short sale and it was 6 months from the offer til the closing, that doesn't include how long it was on the market. The bank is the one approving the short sale since they're taking less and they take foorreevver! It's pretty likely you'll still be there when your lease is up and then you'll probably go month to month.