Big Bear Short Sales: The Bad and The Bad

A very common question that I am asked these days is \" What exactly is the difference between a short sale and a REO?\" Typically I then go into a detailed explanation of the negatives and positives and eventually make then understand that REO\'s are for sure the way to go. I\'ve had a few deals in the last couple of months that really bring that realization to light.

For over a year now, I have had the pleasure of dealing with a wonderful family. They in North Hollywood, and have been searching for their perfect house in this area for quite awhile now. The first few times we looked around, we didn\'t find anything that would have benefited their situation. The family had decided to take about a year, waiting for prices to drop, before they wanted to search again.

So, I took them out a couple of months ago and found a cabin that was perfect for them. The cabin is super clean and situated on a great lot with a ton of beautiful oak trees. Even at the $149,900 price tag, it was a great deal. The one big problem with it was it being a short sale listing. I warned them of the major hassles that usually accompany buying a short sale, but they liked the house enough to risk it.

A month into the process we still hadn\'t heard back from the bank. At this point I was fairly certain the listing agent was full of it and hadn\'t really done what he needed to do to get a short sale done. I told my clients that all we could really do was wait and see what the bank would do. After a month and a half, the listing agent called me to say that the bank had just taken the listing away from him and never gave us an answer.

Which just goes to show you that short sales can be very unpredictable. I am sure this saga will continue…

Submitted by: M. Strahg knows all about shopping a Big Bear, CA foreclosure and Big Bear realty overall. Check out more of her articles on the web.