Buying a Short Sale

[Blackhawks_girl30]

First time poster, but long time reader!  I have been actively reading this site for a long time to repair my credit and get ready to attempt my first home purchase.  I have been looking at homes online to get an idea of how much I should expect to pay in property taxes, down payment, etc so I can be prepared on every possible angle.  It seems like every house that I like and is affordable to me is a short sale.  Both the lender and realtor said to stay away from short sales, but this is almost next to impossible for the area I am looking into since everything on the market I can afford is a short sale. 

My question for all of you experts is how far in advance should I start this process if I need to move by Feb 2013?  The realtor said to start in December, but that doesn't seem to give me very long.

I greatly appreciate any feedback or advice you can give!!

[co791]

December would be fine for a NORMAL sale....Short Sales are unpredictable and tend to take forever as well as break your heart. There are some that are already" Bank Approved" which i assume would take less time. This has been my experience so far, as Im very new to this myself.  We seem to have run into the same thing by us... Affordable= short sale....So many of them. Best of luck.

[Booner72]

If you can hack it, then go for it. It sounds easy enough, but it turns into a monster and destroys every part of your life, you become all-consumed with IF you are going to get the house, WHEN, what if this/what if that.....I sat on a short sale 3 months, the bank came back over 30K higher than what the realtor listed the hosue at. So within 2 weeks found a much better house that was bank owned. Check out HomePath.com - and Homesteps.com - Fannie and Freddie houses....We closed in less than 30 days on the Hompath house.

No reason not to at least look at them. And if your agent told you to stay away, that means they can't hack it, so find an agent who can. They're out there.

Good Luck!