Foreclosures vs. Short Sales

It seems that there is a misunderstanding with Short Sales that pertains to the name itself. They are not short sales in regards to the time it takes to close on a purchase.

Actually, they are quite long when compared to a traditional listing or foreclosure home for sale.

A short sale is when a person selling their home is selling it for less (aka short) then what they owe to the bank. If the home does not sell it eventually will go into foreclosure and be bought/sold at a trustee sale (in Arizona they are trustee sales).

Sometimes the same bank that lost the property buys the property at the trustee sale and then it becomes a bank owned aka REO (Real Estate Owned) listing. The bank will then send it to auction or send it to a local REO listing agent.

A short sale can take up to 6 months to close or more in some cases while a foreclosure will take approximately 45 days from start to finish.