A short sale doesn't have to be a tall order.

By definition short sale means that the value of a home is less than the total loans on the property. In a short sale, the bank forgives the debt with a few qualifying factors. The sellers/homeowners of a short sale home do not pay commissions, closing fees or other associated costs, the bank approves the offer and then pays the costs associated. The process requires patience and you do have quite a bit of time to get the home sold. 

If you have missed a payment, the bank will file a Notice of Default typically once you are 3 months late on the mortgage. In that document, the bank sets a date for 3 months later for a Trustees Sale, more affectionately called, Sold on the Courtroom Steps. That gives a seller 6 months from the 1st missed mortgage payment to either sell the home or bring the loan payments current. After the Trustees sale the home is considered "foreclosed" and the credit implications are vastly different from a short sale.

We are seeing credit dings that range from 50-100 points for a short sale and up to 280 points for a foreclosure. The credit ding for a short sale is on your credit report for up to 2 years and up to 5 years for a foreclosure. If you want my professional forecast, I think lenders are going to work on minimizing the credit impact to consumers who have had to go through a short sale. The reason I think this is that banks need to put consumers in a position to purchase. The sooner they figure out how to navigate the ding on the credit report, the sooner bankers will be able to lend money to a consumer with a short sale in their history.