Many sellers who bought their home in the mid 2000s, or bought earlier and re-financed during this time, will find themselves quite often owing, for example, $200,000 in a mortgage amount for a home that is now worth only $100,000. If a seller needs to sell they will most likely only be able to fetch around the $100,000 that the home is worth leaving a $100,000 discrepancy between the mortgage amount and the sale amount. If the seller cannot bring the discrepant amount to the closing, is in a situation of hardship and needs to sell, this situation is what is termed a “short sale”.
Specifically, a “short sale” is a real estate transaction where the proceeds realized from the sale will fall short of the mortgage balance owed on the property. That is where the “short” in “short sale” comes from as it is definitely not representative of the time it will take to close on one.