A Waiting Game For Homeowners Trying To Sell Short

Banks are often accused of dragging their feet when a homeowner wants to sell for less than the balance on the mortgage. A lot of those “short sales” might be better dubbed “really long and drawn out” sales. New federal guidelines, though, could now push lenders to approve short sales faster.

That’s welcome news to Cathy Yamauchi. She has been trying to unload her house near Minneapolis, Minn., through a short sale since Thanksgiving. A divorce and a drop in income put her in a bind financially, and she says she can’t afford the place anymore. She stopped paying the mortgage nine months ago.

That’s left her in a state of perpetual packing. She points inside a nearly empty kitchen cupboard. “I wanted to bake something one night, and I’m like, oh, I already packed that baking dish,” she says. “So yeah, my cupboards are pretty bare.”