Short Sales Are Bargains, But They Take Forever

In my April MONEY magazine story explaining how to snag a bargain purchasing a short sale or foreclosed home, I reported that the process can be both frustrating and time-consuming. Well, now I have first-hand knowledge of how slow and irksome these deals can be. Wanting to take advantage of my own advice, my husband and I recently decided that the South Florida market where we live had sufficiently busted to make a cute three-bedroom townhouse nearby a pretty good investment. In February, we made an offer on that townhouse, which was listed as a short sale. Three months later, we don’t have a response to our offer, and we’ve only just started hearing from the bank. Not that I’m surprised. I heard all kinds of horror stories about short sales...

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