Residential short-sale transactions have been commonplace in Arizona for at least the last six years. Many homeowners that have sought to short sale their residential properties have expressed a great deal of frustration. This frustration has been caused by: (1) the length of time it has taken to obtain approval from the lender; (2) the lenders' repeated requests for the same financial information from the borrower; (3) the borrowers' inability to speak directly with an actual decision maker; and (4) the lenders initial demand for a large sum of money from the borrower in exchange for the short sale approval.
For those contemplating a short sale on a commercial property there is good news. The short sale process on a commercial property is vastly different than that associated with a residential property. With regard to a short sale on a commercial property, the approval process is typically much shorter. In some cases we have been able to close escrow on a commercial short sale transactions in less than thirty (30) days from our initial contact with the lender. Additionally, throughout the process, you are typically communicating directly with a decision maker. Further, in most cases, the borrower does not receive repeated requests for the production of the very same financial information from the lender.
The reason for the differences in the short-sale approval process is due primarily to the large discrepancy in the volume commercial short sale requests versus residential. Simply put, there are far fewer requests from borrowers for approval of a short sale on a commercial property. Therefore, those at the bank that are working on the commercial transactions tend to have a significantly lighter workload than their counterparts working on residential short sale transactions. This generally results in less frustration for those seeking to short sale a commercial property.