Making Shorter Work of Short Sales

Every good thing (not to be confused with a sure thing) comes with a not so good thing. In the case of buying property that has been designated a "short sale" that not so good thing is the amount of time it can take from the signing of the offer to acceptance to dare we say it...The Closing. Why why why does it take so long when all one is trying to do after all is help the bank and the distressed property owner?
With a plethora of complaints from all over the country, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae finally agree. They agree so much in fact, that there are now new guidelines that will be implemented starting on June 15th. With Freddie Mac having completed an amazing 45,623 short sale transactions last year and more sadly expected well into next year, these new guidelines couldn't have come soon enough. Some highlights of these new guidelines are:

• Loan servicers (um...banks) must make a decision within 30 days of receiving an offer under Freddie Mac's short sale program and a completed Borrower Response Package (BRP) requesting consideration for a short sale under HAFA or Freddie Mac's traditional short sale program. 
• If the lender requires more than 30 days to respond, it must give the homeowner a status update on a weekly basis (or more), and decision must be made within 60 days.
• If the loan servicer counters an offer, the borrower must respond within 5 business days . The servicer/lender/bank then has another 10 days more to respond to the borrower/buyer. 

Even though this is still an inequitable negotiation, it is much better than it has historically been for borrowers and buyers who just want to move on with their lives.
Way to go Federal Housing Finance Agency for insisting on these guidelines that make short sales a viable alternative to adding more foreclosures to the real property for sale pipeline.