Can I negotiate my own short sale?

The short answer is “No.”  If you are a debtor and in default on your mortgage, your bank will want a realtor involved to facilitate an arm’s length transaction, meaning that the buyer and seller are acting separately and independently from each other, and that there are no outside agreements that the parties might benefit from.  The bank’s primary objective is to minimize its loss.  In doing so, it will want the homeowner to sell the house for the highest price possible.
 
While the homeowner might facilitate the short sale by hiring the realtor and sending information to the bank that it is requesting, there are several outside parties that make the short sale possible: real estate agent(s) (representing each side of the transaction) and the buyer.  The bank also does its own due diligence to make sure it is getting the best deal:  broker price opinions, appraisals, etc.
 
If a homeowner is acting alone to short sale his home, the bank might think that the seller is selling the home cheaply to a relative and doing a “back door” deal to get to stay in the home while the bank is “taking a hit”.  This is considered mortgage fraud for which any of the parties involved could be prosecuted.  Therefore, it is much better for the homeowner to sell the home legitimately by hiring professionals who specialize in short sales to get the home sold yielding the highest price for the bank while minimizing their loss.

If you need advice about the short sale process, please contact us.