Oak Lawn IL Real Estate News

Sometimes we think the talk about foreclosures and short sales are happening in someone else’s backyard, but that isn’t true.  Currently, there are 32 single family short sales in Oak Lawn ranging in price from $96,900 for a 2 bedroom, 1 bath ranch style home up to $480,000 for a newer looking brick 2-story with a 3 car garage.*

There are 19 short sale Oak Lawn condominiums and townhomes available ranging in price from $59,900 up to $320,000.*

What is a short sale?

In quick terms, a short sale is when the mortgage holder agrees to allow the property to be sold for less than what is owed on the mortgage.  Short sales should be called “long sales” though, as they can take months to get an answer.  It can get very frustrating waiting and waiting if you’ve put a bid in on a short sale.

If there is more than one mortgage holder involved it can take even longer and might end up going into foreclosure before an agreement can be made by one of the mortgage holders.  Sometimes it’s hard for us on the outside to understand why the banks would rather own the property and possibly lose more in the long run than to try to unload it for a decent price.

I’ve seen homes deteriorate badly while sitting in short sale status only to end up in foreclosure.  By that time, the bank won’t get anywhere near what they could have received if they had accepted a short sale offer.  It leaves many agents and buyers wondering what the banks are thinking.  I think it’s just a bunch of red tape that needs to be streamlined and brought to reality.

Why does a short sale take so long?

If you put in one of the first bids, then the bank might not have had contact with the listing agent yet.  Sounds backwards, but this is how many banks work.  The seller has to start the ball rolling with the bank and the agent normally doesn’t come into the picture until an offer is on paper.  That first offer usually starts communication between the mortgage holder and the listing agent.

I’ve been told that the people working in these mortgage companies/banks could work 24/7 and still not get to the bottom of the short sale files on their desks.  They are understaffed and overwhelmed with their workloads.  They are fielding phone calls and trying to work the individual files.  The paperwork per file alone is daunting.

So if all the listing agents call them weekly trying to get answers, they are taking these workers away from their files.  Normally, once they do have an answer they will call the listing agent.  But as agents, we simply cannot take this as a given.  We need to call to make sure our file isn’t lost or has been set aside for one detail that hasn’t been done correctly.

I have experience with short sales

I’ve been on the seller’s side and buyer’s side on short sales.  The seller’s side requires much more work trying to follow up and make sure each offer is packaged and sent properly.  As a buyer’s agent, it is mostly a waiting game.  Sure, I try to call just to follow-up and see if I can get any kind of information, but I realize that usually the listing agent just doesn’t have any news yet, or they would call me.  Of course, one time I called and got the “I was just going to call you….” spiel.  So as buyer’s agents we still have to make those phone calls just in case.

If you’ve come into the short sale after communication has already been established and other offers have been presented then you will get an answer more quickly.  But there’s really no timing factor to determine this.  In today’s market, a short sale might sit on market for months before getting a first offer.

Our MLS is making changes so we can know if an offer has been “accepted” yet which also lets us know that communication has occurred on the other end.  You can then write up an offer which would be considered a back-up offer.  Many short sale offers never make it to closing because of inspection issues or the fact that the buyer cannot get their financing after all.  With the current job losses, that has affected many closings not occurring.

If you’ve got the patience necessary to try going for a short sale, give me a call at 708-536-8200 or contact me.  You could get a good deal, but you do need to understand the process.

* Please note, these figures are gathered by doing a specific search looking for short sales.  The results might not be 100% accurate as some agents do not enter the listings properly and they won’t come up using the search criteria I used.  This is just to give a close figure of the amount of currently active short sales in Oak Lawn, IL.

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