So, You Have A “Cash” Offer for My Short Sale Listing?
Being a short sale listing agent in Destin, Florida, each week I receive offers on my listings. At least once a week, I hear the same thing from the buyer’s agent:
“I have a CASH buyer for your short sale listing! He can close immediately.”
OK, then what are you expecting from me? And the short sale lender? Do you realize that a CASH offer makes NO DIFFERENCE to the short sale lender? Do you know where your offer goes? To the bottom on the pile. (With the 20,000 other offers in queue.) Bank of America does not put your offer in a special pile, marked “CASH- look at these first”. Wells Fargo does not set aside all the other offers to look at the financing terms of yours. Citi does not expedite your cash offer for approval.
What DO the short sale lenders care about? They care about Line 504 of the HUD, “Payoff of First Mortgage”. That tells them what they are going to NET after their expenses. It does not matter if the buyer wires the funds out of his own account (cash) or the buyer’s mortgage lender wires the funds to closing. It all becomes CASH.
Sure, if you were selling a traditional listing, that is not a short sale, “cash” might make a difference. A traditional seller might discount for the lower-risk buyer and quicker closing. But a short sale listing is a loss to the lender. They don’t care how you get your money. What they will want to see, in any case, is proof of funds or a mortgage pre-approval.
It may not be fair to the cash buyer to have to wait like the rest of the short sale offers, but it is reality. So next time you tell me your offer is “CASH”, and I don’t get too excited, don’t take it personally.
It’s Wendy!
Wendy Rulnick, Broker, Rulnick Realty, Inc.
Call toll-free 1-877-ITS-WNDY (1-877-487-9639) or local 850-650-7883 ext 204
Email Wendy: [email protected]
