With so many homeowners delinquent on their mortgages, the number of short sales hitting the market has increased dramatically, particularly over the last year.
Many buyers see this as a prime opportunity to get a great deal on a Dallas County home, but is the process of purchasing a short sale more trouble than it’s worth?
What is a Short Sale?
A short sale is essentially an agreement between a homeowner and his or her lender to sell a home for less than what is owed on the mortgage. These types of real estate transactions often save homeowners from foreclosure, but the amount of time it takes to close on a short sale has many buyers thinking twice about making an offer on this type of Dallas County property.
Short Sales Affecting Housing Market
Many real estate analysts see the lengthy process of closing on a short sale as greatly affecting the housing market recovery in many parts of the country. Short sales are essentially tying up the real estate market. The problem seems to be that banks are simply taking too long to respond to offers.
Banks are now trying to keep up with the soaring number of loan modifications and short sales, thereby leaving them unable to respond in a timely manner to offers. In short, lenders are simply unable to efficiently process the number of requests going through their institutions on any given day.
To put the short sale situation into perspective: the number of short sale requests has doubled on a national level in 2009, according to Bank of America.
Nationally, the number of short sales tripled to 40,000 for the first six months of 2009, compared to just a year earlier.
So, the question is: should you make an offer on a short sale?
Perhaps. If you are in a rush to move then a short sale property probably isn’t your best bet. However, if you have the time to wait out the short sale process then it may work for you.