PornMD

I think people confuse the definition of short sale. A short sale is technically merely selling a prop for less than what is owed on the mortgage and the bank writing off the diff as a loss vs. trying to collect it. The only reason I see that a short sale would go less than market value is if a QUICK sale was needed, which I suppose may be the case with a higher percentage of short sales than regular sales which is probably why they convey the notion of a lesser price (I know appraisers with choosing comps tend to take short sales with a grain of salt compared to normal sales if enough normal sale comps are available). Foreclosure sales would IMO be where there'd be lower prices...unless I'm mistaken, short sales are done in conjunction with the borrower pre-foreclosure to prevent foreclosure. The lesser price would come in the quickness needed in the sale whereas with a foreclosure sale, the bank wants the money and just doesn't want to have to deal with the property so I could see higher concessions in that case.

Been a while since I was in real estate appraisals so I may be a bit off in those sentiments, but to my knowledge, the only thing that should lower the sales price of a property below what it's worth is if a sale is needed faster than the avg. market time in the area or perhaps in times of a slow market like now where sellers might concede a bit on the sales price to ensure the property sells at all vs. the listing just sitting there forever with little solid interest. That's taking into account that things like condition, amenities etc. that always affect value of the propery would be included on an appraisal and taken into account with evaluating the property, i.e. a property with less amenities than the comp sales in the area should naturally have an adjustment in its value/sales price for that.

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