Another Potential Short Sale Problem?

Just yesterday I ran into yet another problem that can come up with short sale properties.

I called to set up an appointment to show a house to a client that is looking to buy.  The house is listed as a short sale and when I reached the seller’s agent he told me that he couldn’t set up an appointment for me.

Then he told me that his client had an attorney who was supposed to be handling the short sale but since the homeowner isn’t paying the attorney’s bills, the attorney is no longer doing work on the short sale.  In addition, the seller’s agent had received numerous offers (including a full price cash offer) but the seller is not returning any of his agent’s call.

The agent told me he is going to discontinue representing this seller but since he hasn’t been able to get any return communication he can’t get his client to sign the form needed to end the listing agreement and because of this he can’t take the listing out of the MLS.

I’ve come across this before – where the seller is in a situation where they need to sell but they don’t really want to sell and so they end up sabotaging any possible deal.  From my experience I’ve found that when you find out there is a situation like this it is best to move on to another property.  It is difficult enough to get the banks to handle short sales, when the buyer is working against the short sale too it is a no win situation and typically is a waste of time.