Short Sales in Richmond, Virginia

Below is a good article from William D. Tucker in Charlottesville, Va. There is quite a bit of confusion for Buyers and Sellers here, which Mr. Tucker clarifies, but another concerns for both parties is when the property is Pended ( or taken off the market) in MLS? Richmond’s MLS, the Central Virginia Regional MLS, allows Sellers to keep their property active until the Lender Approval is received, as long as, it is disclosed in the MLS comments section. This is has repercussions for both parties. The Seller would like to continue marketing the property until a deal is very likely and a Buyer would like to take the property off the market so better more attractive offers don’t come along which the Lender would take over there offer.

- Questions about Short Sales? Email Carter Snipes at Carter@SnipesProperties.com

(Short Sales—When Is Contract Considered Ratified?): There appears to be some confusion about when a Short-Sale Contract with an attached VAR Short Sale Addendum is considered to be ratified.  The Contract is legally ratified once both the Purchaser and Seller sign the same Contract, Short-Sale Addendum, all other Addendums, and all changes initialed.

The fact that the Seller’s “Short Sale Lender” still has to approve the Short Sale does not mean that the Contract is not ratified between the Purchaser and Seller.  The required “Short Sale Lender” approval is a “contingency” that if not satisfied will result in the contract being terminated just like any other unsatisfied contingency .

The Purchaser will usually first satisfy the normal contingencies (the inspection and loan commitment) and the HOA package will be reviewed and accepted.  Then everyone will wait for the biggest contingency—the approval by the Short Sale Lender of the short sale terms.  While all these contingencies are waiting to be satisfied, the Contract has still been “ratified.”