The Investor On Short Sales: Who really calls the shots?

This is a big misconception among the general population these days in regard to short sales. A short sale, if you don't already know, is the selling of a home where you owe more than it is worth. To do this, one must get approval from their lien holders/ the company's that service their mortgage.

Here is where the misconception comes into play. Yes, when doing a short sale, you must get approval from your mortgage company. Unfortunately, most of the time your mortgage company isn't making the final call on whether to let the short sale go through or not. The majority of the time while, for example, your mortgage might be through Wells Fargo and Wells Fargo's logo is on all of your bills, but the loan is actually owned by another company. This other company is called the investor. 

If you have ever heard of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, this is what they do. They are the investors on home mortgages. The investors set the guidelines in place and have final say on all approvals of short sales. This is part of the reason one short sale with XYZ bank might take 1 month and another with the same exact bank can take up to 8 months.

If you have any Arizona Short Sale questions or are looking to purchase an Scottsdale home, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Thanks for reading.

Sincerely,

Jeff Buettner