We received multiple offers for our short sale listing. Should we send all the offers to our bank to decide which one to accept?

We received multiple offers for our short sale listing. Should we send all the offers to our bank to decide which one to accept?

In a short sale, the bank is not the owner and therefore does not have the right to decide which offer to accept. An Agreement of Sale is a contract between the seller and the buyer, not between the bank and the buyer. The seller decides which offer to accept. Once that offer is accepted, the seller and buyer are committed to each other per the terms of the Agreement of Sale. The fully signed contract is then submitted to the seller’s bank to see if they will be willing to accept the net proceeds of the sale. The seller is responsible for deciding which offer has the best chance of being approved for a short sale by their lender.

There have been cases where the bank’s representative demands to see all the offers. In those instances, the bank’s representative is improperly meddling in a decision that should be made by the property’s owner. Many bank employees who deal with short sales earn just above minimum wage and are often renters. Since they do not own their own home, they may have little knowledge about the fundamental concepts of real estate.

In real estate sales, the seller decides which offer to accept. In a short sale, if the bank states that they want to see all the offers, the seller and listing agent should refuse that request.

If the bank has taken the property back via foreclosure, then the property is owned by the bank. The situation is no longer a short sale. The bank sells the property and therefore has the right to decide which offer to accept.

Source #SignificaShortsales