I recall listing my first short sale since the 90’s in 2006. The reaction from both the public and most agents to the term “short sale” was typically one of curiosity and confusion. What is a short sale? How does it work? How long will it take? Is it for real?
Now short sales are so common as to become as normal to real estate vernacular as “appraisal” or “kitchen.” Everyone seems to hear the term, and the explanation now takes 30 seconds instead of 15 minutes. I am currently representing buyers on 1 short sale purchase, have other buyers with a bid on one, and I am brokering almost a dozen on the selling end, which is actually a low number for me. The most expensive is over $700,000; the lowest price is a little over $150,000. Most range between $200,000 and $400,000.
The one thing they all do have in common is financial hardship and an upside down mortgage. Values are falling below mortgage balances and jobs are being lost in this economy. Values will continue to fall as short sales and bank-owned REO foreclosures dominate the sales statistics. If you have a $500,000 house, how can you compete with a $350,000 REO foreclosure down the street? It will be a happy day for this country when short sales become far less common.
For now, however, short sales are as common in New York Real Estate as they have ever been.
J. Philip Faranda is Westchester & the Hudson Valleys’s Premier Short Sale REALTOR. He has listed and sold successful short sales in Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Orange County, as well as the boroughs of New York City. Find out more at www.NYShortSaleTeam.com
