Q: When is the list price not necessarily the list price?

A:  When it’s a short sale

You’d think that a Seller who received a full-price offer on their home would automatically say “yes,” and the Buyer and Seller would be well on their way to a consummated deal.

And in most situations, you’d be correct.

However, with a short sale — that is, a home where the lender is owed more than the home’s fair market value — the Seller’s list price is really only the opening salvo in a multi-step process.

Once an offer comes in on a short sale property, the next step is typically a lender-ordered Broker price opinion (“BPO”).

If the BPO suggests that the list price is too low, nothing prevents the lender from rejecting the Buyer’s offer and countering above list price.