…typically a short sale property is turned over 10 months faster than a foreclosure. Meaning the banks shave ten months off the time in which they are not receiving any payments from the distressed property owner. Some of the major changes that were included in this reform was that no longer will homeowners who are 90 plus days behind on their mortgage and have a FICO score under 620 be burdened with the task of producing hardship documents. Another nice change is that on any second lien on the property will be capped at $6000 in return. Many times the first mortgage was easily negotiated only for that to stall due to the fact that the second mortgage was with a different lender or could not be negotiated down enough to make the short sale possible. This is great news for homeowners who have a second or third mortgage or a line of credit tied to their home. The final change that was greatly needed was a set time frame for responses from the lender. In the new reform lenders will have 30 days to respond to the initial request from the homeowner and have to have a decision on the price within 60 days of the initial request. The bottom line to all these changes is that it will make it a lot easier for all parties to do a short sale. This is just another increase in the trend of doing a short sale rather than being foreclosed on.