Cynthia's Corner

Short Sale Soundoff: First-time buyers losing interest in short sales

First-time home buyer purchases of short sales dropped to 39.7 percent of short sale transactions in August, and represented a three-month slide. This was the lowest level for first-time home buyers ever recorded by the HousingPulse survey.

The first-time home buyer share of short sales hit a peak of 54.1 percent of all short sale transactions in November 2009, just before the originally-scheduled expiration of the federal home buyer tax credit.

Real estate agents responding to the August survey indicated that home buyers frustrated with short sale delays are resorting to placing offers on multiple properties, with the intention on closing on only one. This practice can bog down the short sale approval process at mortgage servicers.

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