When we take out our buyers to look at both Short Sales and REO’s, we need to set our Buyers expectations between the two because there is a difference in how long they take to close escrow.
- Short Sales do have a longer time frame involved due to negotiations than other homes on the market unless they’ve already been “pre-approved”; on average about 3 months but it does depend on who is handling the negotiations, who are the banks or lenders involved, and how many lien holders there are all impact the time frame.
- Bank owned properties (REO’s) take usually less than 2 months start to finish just due to the fact that they already have determined and processed what they want for the home.
- There are also a lot more “regular” or “equity” sales out there recently because the “flips” are now coming back due to FHA temporarily removing their 90 day seasoning rule. It has made it more attractive for investors to purchase either bank owned homes or homes on the auction block, aka Trustee Sale Homes. Those also move faster than short sales.
We’ll be happy to further talk with someone interested in buying a home on more specifics because these are merely estimates; each home out there has it’s own story to tell.
