Communication likely is job one for the different players in any real estate transation from lender to lawyer to agent. But it’s particularly important with short sales as they drag on and on and on and on…
Case-in-point, we’ve been working with some buyers over the last several months who had entered into a contract regarding a transaction that they knew up front was a short sale and I surely counseled them up front that this deal may take several months to close or it may not close. Fast forward 2-3 months and clients are getting a bit nervous that the deal may not close prior to Uncle Sam’s November 30, 2009 bewitching hour and they start considering other properties.
Well, Buyer’s find another property, want to kill the ‘short sale’ deal, and put in an offer on the “new” property. We send letter over to Seller’s lawyer on the short sale to null/void the contract and suddenly are told that first mortgage has approved the short sale and are given written proof of said approval and they’re just waiting for approval by the second mortgage-holder (what was worse was that my office had followed-up within the last couple weeks and we were told specifically Seller was still negotiating). So we may have just been getting the run around.
But the moral of the story is that particularly on the Seller’s side, you need to communicate the status of the lender negotiations to the Buyer or the Buyer’s eyes may start to wander. A quick e-mail or fax every 3ish weeks doesn’t take too much time. And it might keep that Buyer interested and save a Seller the ramifications of foreclosure.
I added your blog to bookmarks. And i’ll read your articles more often!