Short sales and mercury have very similar qualities. The agents and the public are being inundated with short sale information. This crazy market is like liquid mercury. Ever break one of those glass thermometers? I did as a kid. I held it in the steam of the old vaporizer and POW it broke; just like our real estate bubble. It is nearly impossible to pick up the mercury. As you try to pick up the mercury pieces it divides into more pieces and on and on. In short, it is a mess that takes patience and persistence to master and clean up. Just like our real estate market.
The truth is, at the moment, the banks on the whole are much more cooperative in working with short sales. It still takes some time to get done but we have learned some secrets in the dealing with loss mitigators at the banks. You need to know what they want and give them even more. This keeps the ball rolling.
The faster we move property with owners in financial trouble the better. New owners are coming from other areas or are first time buyers that couldn’t afford the previous inflated market and they will maintain the property, spend money in the community and this mess will end sooner. The local economy will grow.
Some banks seem to have figured out that foreclosing quickly just puts undue costs on the property. Vacant property is open to vandalism, mold, and code enforcement fines for unkempt property. These costs far outweigh an owner staying in the property to short sale it.