The Hunt to Homeownership: Drowning in Short Sales

I've mentioned in here and there on the blog before, but this is the first time I'm coming right out and saying it.

We are condo hunting.

Yep - we are currently on the hunt to undertake the largest responsibility one can: the hunt to homeownership.

The first time everyone says when they hear this?  How exciting!  With the voice inflection meant to show how very exciting it really is.  And it is - so exciting.  It's also other things.  Nerve-racking, stress-inducing, anxiety-producing and complicated to name a few.  But we chose this path, and we are, over all other things, excited about this new adventure we are taking off on together!

The first thing I've noticed during this exciting little adventure?  We are drowning in short sales.  Tutor Girl wrote a great post last year about short sales that I would strongly encourage you to read if you're interested in learning a little more, or if you're unfamiliar with short sales in general.

I'm not sure if it is like this everywhere, or is SoCal is just special but we are drowning in short sales here.  They seem to be all that is out there!  This woulnd't be such a con if they weren't so damn complicated and so time consuming.  Did you know it can take months to find out whether or not your offer is approved by the bank?  Months.  What the fudge?  I'm not quite sure where banks get off dilly-dally-ing around, but it's a little redonk if you ask me.

The whole short sale business is a little sad, really.  It's sad to be looking into an investment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and not be able to go into it with your whole heart.  I feel like I have to keep a wall up to avoid becoming disappointed. 

And the reality of the situation?  Even with that wall up, I still get disappointed.  More on that next week.

Note to HGTV: We would make reality TV gold if they filmed HH and I house hunting.