Brevard County, Florida Real Estate - Are Short Sales Closing Any Faster?

The short sale approval process varies greatly transaction to transaction.  There are so many factors that impact the approval process it is hard to tell a buyer when to expect an answer from the lender on their offer.

Some of the things that are of the buyer's hands (requiring patience) include things like -

• how quickly the seller provides the supporting documentation to the lender, 
• the lender workload, 
• how many loans are involved, 
• the appraisal process (most often a BPO which is a market analysis by a non-involved real estate agent), 
• the negotiation between seller and lender, 
• the inspection (although most are sold as is) and 
• who knows what else may come up along the way!

So, is the approval process getting shorter?  

Let's compare the period of April 1 - April 20, 2011 to the same period this year for Brevard County, Florida residential short sale closings.

• 2011 - 83 transactions closed with an average days on market of 209 days 
• 2012 - 71 transaction closeted with an average days on market of 147 days

So is the process from listing to closing short sales getting better?   It looks that way on the surface.

Maybe this is a reflection of better preparation by sellers and their real estate agents.  Maybe this is a reflection of the lenders getting better at the process as well or the process getting simplified!  Federal mortgage backer Freddie Mac completed 45,623 short sales in 2011, a 140% increase over the 2009 number.

Either way things should get better soon as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced this time lines that will require decisions within 60 days.  Further, anything over thirty days will require weekly updates.

So should you buy a short sale?  It all depends on your time table and flexibility!

If you are considering buying or selling a short sale in Viera, Suntree or Rockledge, Florida, call me at 321-693-3850 or email me if I can help!