A short sale is when the owner of a home has an agreement with the bank that holds his mortgage, (the lender who he borrowed the money for his home from), to accept an offer for less than the total amount owed to pay off the home. Usually the sale will be a "Short Sale" because the home will sell for less than what the owner owes to the lender, so the bank will be "shorted". In most cases this is because the amount owed to the bank, is much more than what the home can be sold for. Right now, there are 130 "short sales" on the market in Irvine. See the MLS listings of current Irvine "Short Sales".

If you're interested in trying to buy a "Short Sale" home in Irvine or anywhere else, understand that it is a cumbersome process. For normal home purchases, your offer will be accepted or rejected in a couple of days, but with "Short Sales", it is not so easy.

The bank employees that your REALTOR® will be dealing with more than likely have many files they are working with, and getting you an answer in a rush is not their priority. Their job is to get as much money as possible for their employer, the bank.

Very often, offers for "Short Sales" will go back & forth between the bank & your REALTOR® for up to 90 days, only for the "Short Sale" to fall through. Then the home is either put up for auction, or someone else puts in an offer, and the process begins again.

With more and more "Short Sales" on the market, hopefully the banks will begin to be more accommodating soon. They don't like to own homes, and the auction usually results in the bank losing more money than with a "Short Sale".