How Long Does a Short Sale Take?

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS:

How long does a short sale take? Does the Fine Island Properties Team have experience in short sales?

This is not a one size fits all answer but in looking at the process for short sale the minimum time period for an approval prior to start of escrow is one month. Average time is 4 months and then a 45 day escrow unless you are paying cash. In our over 50 Short Sales in Maui over the last couple years, our quickest short sale was completed in approx 60 days total and the longest wait is still running at one year. Each bank has different criteria they use to review and then send on to the investor on the loan for approval. Different investors/groups of investors may also have criteria they are willing to accept. That is why there are no hard or fast answers. We do see certain trends with various lenders and share these with our buyers/sellers.

When an offer is accepted the Title/Escrow company must first draft a HUD statement estimating net proceeds to the lender. This statement sometimes takes time due to needing amounts from condo assoc., etc. After paperwork is submitted it takes approx one week to upload into the lender's system. After this hopefully you are assigned a negotiator that reviews the package for completeness. Then an appraisal is issued and this generally takes 3 weeks to be done/uploaded into the system. At this point a escalation of file to a new negotiator in phase 2 is done. They review and submit to investor. If approved a new negotiator is sometimes assigned/not always. This seems like a simple process but if file is missing something you generally start all over again. Financials from the seller must also be resent each month and this causes more delay.

You can be confident that by using Fine Island Properties team to represent you in your short sale transaction that we are educated, and have over experience with over 50 short sales so you can be confident you are getting the best service possible. If thinking of selling short sale on Maui please call for a confidential analysis (we always recommend to first call your lender to see if you can save the home). If buying we will make sure the process although not "short" is done properly.

As with all our short sales we can't stress to our clients enough to consult an attorney for any legal questions you may have and a tax advisor/CPA for any financial concerns.

**If you would like to see an answer to your question please write to FineIslandProperties@gmail.com and we will include it in our next newsletter or
answer privately if you wish.