I recently read an article about the state of the “Short Sale / Foreclosure” market and while it appears that the banks are pushing forward to get these homes off their books the reality seems quite different. Ask any Realtor who has had to work with a loss mitigation representative from the bank on how difficult it is to get a real person on the phone or how long they have had to stay on hold waiting for a rep and one might think that the Banks could care less about moving destressed properties. No one is denying that the process of a Short Sale is time consuming and involves cooperation from many parties but there is a hint of foot dragging from some lenders.

I myself was working with a cash buyer who was trying to purchase a pre-foreclosure home in South Orlando and experienced a very frustrating process. It took almost 60 days just to get an answer on our offer and once we did hear something from the bank we continued to get the run-around. Needless to say my Buyers moved on to another property and actually got a better deal.

Im sure that if these lenders want to clear their portfolio of bad loans they could implement a better system to streamline these foreclosures. We hear day in and out how many foreclosures are out there and getting worse by the day. And yes, I know that this flood of foreclosures has hit the banks like a tsunami, but these are the same people who created the problem. There are buyers out there who will purchase these properties but if the process is difficult, they will move on to something else. If Banks truly want to fix this mess, then now is the time to step up and take the lead. Otherwise, we may see this market drag on for years.