Knoweldge is Power

I think one of the biggest frustrations for us as we've gone through the not so "short" sale is our lack of knowledge. We feel powerless, and as a buyer, that's a hard feeling to have because its YOUR money, your ability to call the shots, and your inability to make clear decisions on whether to wait or not because you have no idea how long you will have to wait and even IF you are the buyer the bank approves!

I just got off the phone with my friend Janette who has helped negotiate many, many short sales, and she had some excellent questions for us to ask the selling agent to help make our decision on how long we're going to wait out this sale. Information like finding out what position we are in (are we the number one buyer, or are we a backup offer?) what is the process if someone comes in with a higher offer than us? (we will be notified and given a chance to make a higher offer or what?) How many liens are on the home? If there are more than one lien, what type of loans are they? What bank are we trying to work with? Has a Brokers Price Opinion been completed, and if so, when?

If we can get those questions answered, we can have a lot more information which translates into power. We can clearly and confidently say, "Yes" we are going to stay with this house, or "No Way!" This is going to take a lot longer than we are willing to wait or its too risky that we won't be the number one offer. I feel a lot more confident if we can get some of those answers instead of twiddling our thumbs wondering when the Realtor is going to call. Marc & I are both hoping to make a decision by Christmas. The ideal situation for us would be to give our 30 days notice at the end of this month, and be moving by the end of January. I really don't know if that's going to happen or not, but we feel like if we're going to keep making the changes we want to financially, then we've got to cut our housing and transportation costs ASAP.