Choosing to Purchase a Short Sale

If you are in the market to purchase a home you definitely need to consider a few things when searching for a short sale. If you have a time limit in which to settle on a home a short sale may not work for you. Although it seems to be getting better, it can take quite some time to negotiate a short sale. Remember your offer has to be approved by a third party, the bank and sometimes even a fourth party, a second bank. Because of this it can take 4-8 weeks to get everything negotiated and then another 45 days to settle due to the mortgage restraints. Therefore if you are trying to take advantage of the tax credit you need to get moving immediately if you want to purchase a short sale.
Also remember while you are waiting for the offer to be accepted additional offers can be coming into the bank. They are not going to just review your offer but all offers that come into the bank. So if you have a time frame in which you must purchase a home you may want to rethink a short sale as this type of purchase requires a lot of patience. However if you have no time frame to purchase you should consider this type of sale.