Wednesday, March 21, 2012

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.

12 comments:

Unknown said...

When we were looking at houses we fell in LOVE with a short sale condo (there aren't a ton around here, thankfully, but we did look at a few) but it was out of our price range (or so we thought, then we went to a loan officer who could get us so much more so we ended up with a house). We waffled for SO long about it (before we switched to houses) but the thing that scares me the most is that you can put an offer in, wait SIX MONTHS only to find out they denied it. Short sales suck! Some friends of ours were really successful recently with one, but still...I don't trust them! The good thing is that you probably can get a nice place for a lot less than it's worth, though!

Sara Cate said...

Best of luck with your adventure. Remember, the journey can be enjoyed too!

Ashley V. said...

Good luck on your hunt!!! We want to buy something sooo bad but need to wait until we are finally settled. You may have heard we're moving...again. But good news is we will be right by Kara. We will rent for a year and hopefully buy after that. Praying for you guys! I know that short sales are a pain and house hunting in general can be overwhelming. Hugs!

Claudia said...

I wish you and HH luck on your search... I am itching to be a homeowner myself but won't really qualify for a large enough loan :/

Claudia said...

BTW have you contacted HGTV? I love the HouseHUnters show and Property Virgins too

Erin said...

omg, please go on property virgins! that is the best show! and remember - when picking out a place - THE WALL COLOR CAN CHANGE!!! haha. :) good luck on your search!!! so excited for you (and a little jealous! but in a good way! hehe)!

kimberly @ lush lounge said...

The words short sale make me cringe. Not that I'm home shopping or anything, but I've heard enough horror stories about short sales that make me never want to!

Heather said...

Home buying is the most exciting and scariest time! And you should totally do House Hunters!

Carly Ann said...

I am house hunting (and have been for over a year now) and we are surrounded by short sales too! they are great because it means that houses that normally wouldn't be in our price range before are options, but it sucks because so many investors are coming in with cash offers so our offers keep getting shot down.
I understand the frustration, so good luck!

LWLH said...

Good luck girl, hope you find something you love without the trouble of short sale,

Wiz said...

Ugh...short sales. No wonder banks are struggling. They have all these houses and they are in NO hurry to move them and get CASH!! Baffles me. Good luck in your search!

Shellsea said...

thanks for the shout out! fingers crossed here for you guys.

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