Don’t Call it a “Traditional” Sale — It’s a “Long” Sale
[Note: for the uninitiated, a “short sale” is when the homeowner’s mortgage(s) exceed the home’s fair market value — a condition referred to as being “underwater.” Depending on the specific housing market, short sales have receded from more than 50% of all sales five years ago to single digits today.]
The irony about so-called short sales is that they . . . aren’t (short, that is).
On the contrary, they’re very, very long — that is, when they go through at all.
That’s because the bank(s) holding the mortgage(s) have to agree to take less than what they’re owed, rather than simply foreclose on the home in question.
Under the best of circumstances, all the related negotiation, marshaling of documents, etc. can take 4-6 months (or longer).
Real Estate Terms #101
If you’re going to insist on calling them short sales, however, it stands to reason that the opposite should be called a “long sale.”
At least, that’s the term my 11 year-old daughter proposed the other day.
Instead, the industry seemed to settle on the term “traditional” sale several years ago.
See also, “Ready, Fire, Aim — Short Sale Version“; “Short Sale Paradoxes”; and “Short Sale Denial, Short Sale Semantics.“
