real

• Deals made for homes are slow to close
  Rich
  29 days ago
  

  Short Sales, a type of pre-foreclosure sale negotiated with the bank, are indeed taking a long time to close. It requires the right pricing and the right procedures when working with the bank and seller, and the right documentation. Unfortunately, many agents who do them don't know how they're supposed to work, and as such, they ultimately lead the sellers down to the only option left - foreclosure.

  Once banks streamliine the process, the inventory of these types of properties should get moving again. If the MLS can track that these properties are indeed declining, that will be a strong indicator that the market is recovering. Otherwise, monthly numbers that are just number manipulation showing weak signs of recovery (or just market fluctuations) are not good indicators.

  Quoted: May sales numbers released Thursday by the broker-owned Northwest Multiple Listing Service reflect the complex and notoriously slow nature of short sales, which real-estate agents say are occurring more frequently in the Seattle market. Pending sales of King County single-family homes — offers that have been accepted by owners, but haven't yet closed — were up 27 percent from May 2008, eliciting cheers from brokers starved for good news. Closings, in contrast, were down 14 percent. Real-estate professionals attributed the disparity to slow-closing short sales.

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