Short sales require hours upon hours of work, and organization is imperative in order to get them done. Short sales will typically take approximately 3-4 months to complete (see below for typical lender time lines), and that is simply because the majority of lenders are overwhelmed at the moment, some receiving as many as 500 or more short sale packages a day! And in some cases 2 or 3 weeks may go by without any change in the status of a file.
| Typical Lender Timelines | |
| Get authorization on file with lender | 2 days |
| Compile short sale documents | 7-14 days |
| Get short sale package on file with lender | 5-20 days |
| Short sale package assigned to negotiator | 10-14 days |
| Get BPO/Appraisal with agent | 14-21 days |
| Schedule BPO/Appraisal with agent | 5-10 days |
| Time for BPO/Appraisal with agent | 21-28 days |
| Negotiate/obtain approval from negotiator | 15-20 days |
| Total | 77-129 days |