I wrote an offer on a property that is a short sale. Now short sales are not a REALTOR’s dream transactions—nightmare, maybe—but there was a compelling reason to write the offer for these clients.

They are renters. A while back, their landlord stopped making payments on the mortgage for the house they are renting. Sooner or later the bank is going to foreclose on the house. The landlord/owner decided to list the house for sale…a short sale.  In case you are not familiar with short sales, click here.

They really like the house. They have acquired two large dogs since they moved in. If they have to move, they will find it difficult to secure another rental where their dogs will be welcome. They like the neighborhood. Where they now live affords a convenient commute to their jobs. If someone else buys the house, they will have to move. If the bank forecloses, the bank will have to evict them and then put the house on the market. It would make more sense if the bank would simply sell the house to the tenants (which is what we are trying to do with the short sale) but banks don’t want to be landlords so they will evict the tenants if the house goes to foreclosure even though the tenants want to buy the house.

The offer was written the last week of August. The listing agent tells me that we should get a response from the bank in the next week or so, but I know that she is just guessing. We shall see. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

 Stay tuned.