Preparing buyers for a short sale

As I have been working with a set of buyers who are first time home buyers, they decided they were in the market for a house that is a great value, and met the specs of space they were looking for.  We looked at over 50 houses in the time frame of three weeks and kept coming back to one that was in a short sale, as the matter of fact, of their top 5, three were short sales.  So we took the bull by the horns and placed our offer on the table.  ACCEPTED!!!  Great, now what?  Here’s a few things to inform your buyers on with short sales.

1) Be patient and prepared to wait, and wait, and wait.  Whomever has the note on that short sale probably has hundreds just like it.  All those buyers want answers now, but the fianancial institution will move at their own pace.  Maybe fast, probably not.

 2)  Listen to your lender.  The company your buyers are using has probably encountered business deals with the Bank in charge of the short sale.  Ask them what their experience and relay that to your buyers.

3)  Keep your buyers informed.  The easiest way to lose a buyer is to assume the deal is done.  I have been fortunate and had understanding buyers and learned from my mistakes early.  You may not be and yo may lose a client.

4)  Keep pushing the sellers agent to get the deal done.  We don’t what number your needle in the haystack is, so push the sellers agent to get the bank to move.  The more you bug them, the more they bug the bank

5)  Relay to your buyers it’s a great deal if they can wait.  I have heard stories of 25 months to close with certain lenders.  If it’s an absolute great deal, then it’s worth the wait.  If it’s not, it’s not.