Nobody doubts the fact that short sales take long to close. It’s like saying the Sunday precedes Monday; nobody questions that. So in wanting to present solid data to support this assumption, I collected MLS data and conduct an analysis of the following:

• From the purchase contract date, how long does it take to close a sale? What is it for short sales? REOs? Regular sales?
• Is marketing time any different among short sales vs. REOs vs. regular sales?
• For short sales, how does pend time (for lack of a better term) break down by sales price? Is there a price range that takes longer to close than others?

MLS data was pulled for three East Bay cities – Fremont, Newark, Union City – for sales completed within the last 3 months (Nov. 2010 – Jan. 2011).  A total of 607 sale transactions were analyzed.

Highlights of the results:

• Once in contract, short sales take an average of 108 days to close – that’s about 3 and ½ months. By comparison, REOs and regular sales have similar pend time of about 40-41 days. This is the most glaring contrast between a short sale and non-short sale.
• Short sale listings stay on active status for an average of 48 days before accepting an offer (to submit to the bank). This is slightly longer than the marketing time for REOs (40 days) and regular sales (45 days).
• Taken altogether (marketing time + pend time), it takes an average of 156 days – slightly over 5 months – to complete a short sale from listing to closing.
• When dissected by sale price, the longest time to close a short sale is on properties priced in the $400Ks, followed by those in the $300Ks.

FANNIE MAE REACHES OUT. WaysHome™ is an interactive video tool that aims to educate struggling homeowners about the options available to them, by playing out real-life scenarios, and seeing the outcome of decisions made. Visit www.KnowYourOptions.com