Short Sale: Estimated Time Lines

From the time the offer and complete short sale package is sent, it will take 3-4 weeks for the lenders to set the file up in their systems, assign it to a negotiator and order the BPO (Broker’s Price Opinion, discussed later).

Seven to fourteen days later, the lenders will have received and reconciled the BPO. Within the next 30 days, a Demand/Approval letter SHOULD be issued. This timeline varies depending on whether the sale needs approval from an underlying investor, Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) Company, or if there is more than one lender/lien on the property.

When also negotiating a release on a second, third, IRS lien, or judgments, the time frame may increase substantially as each lien must approve in writing the others transaction.

At this time, the industry standard to complete a short sale is 60-90 days.


The team welcomes your phone calls and emails to check status of the short sale process. However: please be aware that frequent phone calls and or emails delay not only our response times in replying to your questions, but also takes our staff away from working on your files so please allow 48hrs to return an email or phone call.

We greatly appreciate your patience!


Buyers should be aware when they submit an offer that this process takes more time than a regular transaction. Frequently, it can not be expedited as the lenders have specific time lines in reviewing a short sale package. Short Sale Connections will do all that we can within lender’s guidelines to expedite processing of your files. If an offer terminates at any time during the negotiation, with many lenders the process starts over, even if the offer is better or if the file was initially approved at the same or better offer. Please keep this in mind when communicating with buyer’s agents.

The foreclosure process will continue while the property is listed and even during the negotiations of a short sale. Short Sales Connections will request a postponement of the foreclosure sale if a legitimate offer is pending. We cannot guarantee approval of postponement of auction as any postponement is subject to lender approval.


Nick.