Bank of America recently announced that throughout the last 18 months, more short sales than REO properties have been completed; for example, in May, they completed approximately 9,000 short sales in comparison to 7,000 REO, said Housing Wire.


“There is a steady but slow increase in REO, which equals a steady, slow increase in short sale,” said Chris Saitta, CEO of Equator, LLC., to Housing Wire.

The bank notes that since the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program was introduced in April 2010, it has become easier to gather documents and close transactions in a concise manner. Furthermore, the program has now introduced guideline changes, which are expected to expedite the process even more.

However, some agents have lost deals when the bank’s appraisal comes in, despite buyers offering the listing price.

“Valuation is an inexact science. The offer may be a full to list, but not to the appraisal. When you submit your own short sale deal, send your own BPO,” said David Sunlin, Bank of America’s real estate management executive, in the article.”If you put your facts out there, you can at least make your case.”

Handling short sales and REO properties has been an apparent area of concern, with 33 percent of our readers selecting “dealing with short sales of foreclosure sales” as the biggest challenge facing the industry today. We have also suggested short sale tips, after noting the trend of better short sale execution than REO, with a recent article on the topic.