1. DO NOT send multiple offers to the bank. If you put yourself in the bank's shoes, what would you do if you got 4,5, 6 or 10 offers on your property? You might be inclined to wait to see if you get more at higher prices. The loss mitigation departments (the dept. that handles short sales) at every single bank are extremely disorganized and they most surely cannot keep track of multiple offers. If a real estate agent recommends that you sign multiple offers, they are causing you to do an unethical act. Bottom line: it’s your job as the seller to select one offer to accept. With the help of your agent, you’ll choose the one that has the highest likelihood of getting your short sale approved.

2. Be relentless in calling the bank for updates. With the reality that the banks are processing literally thousands of short sale packages, it’s critical that your file be kept fresh on the minds of the administrators and negotiators inside the bank. Because of the sheer volumes of files being processed, they are always being lost or misplaced. That’s right. Even in this age of technology, stuff gets lost…a file gets sent to a negotiator via email and the pdf gets deleted by mistake. The fax machine runs out of paper or gets jammed. It’s so important have your case stand out when your negotiator is working on a hundred others.

3. Be sure your short sale package is complete. The bank isn’t going to call your agent to tell them your package was incomplete. It will go in the shredder if it’s not sent in complete in the first place. The more information that’s sent to the bank the better. It’s always best that your agent call the lender first and ask for the specifics of what they want included in the hardship package. Then send them exactly what they asked for. A complete package should be at least 50 pages. I've seen some that are more than 100 pages. The bank servicers do not have a clue about specific real estate micro-markets, so it’s important that your agent send them information about the market value by way of a Broker Price Opinion or a Comparable Market Analysis. Your agent really needs to come across as a professional that really knows what they are doing.

4. Focus on getting an offer, not on getting top dollar. The goal is to get an offer as quickly as possible so that the complete hardship package can be submitted to the bank. The negotiation process cannot ensue until an offer is accepted by you, the seller. If the offer is too low, the bank will counter the offer, and you’ll know what their bottom line is. The focus needs to be on getting the process going as quickly as possible to keep you out of foreclosure.

5. Make sure your agent is checking status regularly so the bank doesn’t foreclose. The loss mitigation deparment does not communicate with the foreclosure/legal department. By and large, one hand doesn’t have a clue what the other is doing. Unless your agent is on top of this, it’s possible that the auction date can be set while you’re trying to negotiate the short sale, and the bank forecloses in the middle of everything. The short sale doesn’t stop the foreclosure process, but with a listed property and and/or an offer, you can delay an auction.

6. Make sure your agent has productive communication with the buyers/buyers agent to keep them in process. This is probably one of the most critical secrets. Ensuring that the buyer’s mindset is such that they are committed to hanging in for at least 90 days before they even get to the formal escrow phase is huge. This is where most deals fall apart. The buyer’s agent needs to be kept informed every two weeks or sooner if there are any changes in status.

7. Work with a real estate agent that knows what they’re doing! If the agent you choose has not completed formal short sale certification training and has done fewer than 3 short sale transactions on the listing side, find someone else.

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