Will we see an increase or decrease in Short Sale Activity in 2011?

It's been a bumpy ride for short sales investors since 2008. Over the last two years a lot of banks have been less than eager to approve short sales, instead drawing out the process for long periods of time and ultimately halting short sales completely for a while at the end of 2010 because of the robo-signing debacle. So is there light at the end of the tunnel for short sale investors?

Short Sale Predictions

While I have continued to operate my short sales business successfully through this mess, I must say that it has become more difficult for a short sale to get approved by the bank, so it's taken working on more deals to create the same income (luckily for investors, there are a lot of short sale deals out there). If the short sale predictions for 2011 that are reported in the news are correct we should see a significant increase in short sales a fewer foreclosures during 2011. One report released today explains it like this:

"According to global ratings agency Fitch Inc. and Managing Director Diane Pendley industry experts are expecting to witness more short sales and fewer foreclosures in 2011, an encouraging sign for homeowners in the D.C. Metro, northern Virginia and Maryland regions as well as those seeking alternatives to foreclosure. A short sale, or a sale in which a property is sold for less than what is owed on the mortgage, can be an effective alternative to foreclosure while allowing homeowners to escape the burden of bankruptcy. The Tania Ivey Real Estate Group, which services Northern Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., offers a number of Certified Distressed Property Experts (CDPE) to advise clients in the short sale process. Home sellers in specific areas such as Fairfax County VA, or Loudoun County VA are seeing the number of Short sales increase. If you are a homeowner in Leesburg VA or Ashburn VA trying to sell your house you are competing with numerous Short Sales. Even areas such as Great Falls VA and Vienna VA are seeing a major part of the market being short sold."

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Ultimately, the banks will be the ones that decide if they are ready to play ball in 2011. There will be no shortage of delinquent mortgages any time soon, and so it comes down to foreclosure or short sale for the banks. For both investors and homeowners alike, let's hope the banks choose to start short selling more properties again.

About Phill Grove

Phill Grove has conducted approximately $200M in real estate transactions – using non-traditional investing methods such as mortgage assignment, short sales, equity partnering, auction-options, wraps, swaps, and other methods – many of which he invented and/or pioneered for the industry. Phill has invented a new strategy called the Mortgage Assignment Profits System. Phill Grove has personally trained and coached hundreds of Real Estate Investors on the "12 Ways to Buy and Sell Real Estate", as well as marketing and lead processing strategies that actually work. Find out more about Phill at http://ping.fm/soBP4