Owners seek short sales as banks push foreclosure

   The mighty American foreclosure machine is about to start cranking again in style and thousands of Americans are going to be kicked out of their homes. The banks are foreclosing on these homes because said Americans haven't paid their mortgages but a New York Times article this morning asks, "Why not short sales instead of foreclosures?" From the piece:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Owners-Seek-Short-Sales-as-nytimes-3208549596.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=7&asset=&ccode=
   Concerns about fraud are one of the reasons lenders are so careful about short sales. Sometimes well-off homeowners want to portray their finances as dire and cut their losses on a property. In other instances, distressed homeowners try to make a short sale to a relative, who would then sell it back to them (a practice that is illegal). A recent industry report estimates that short sale fraud occurs in at least 2 percent of sales and costs banks about $300 million annually. Short sales are also hindered when homeowners fail to forward the proper papers, have tax liens or cannot find a buyer.

   Banks are swamped with delinguent mortgages and the attendant foreclosures. When swamped in such a manner, large organizations such as BAC have to wade through the morass and attempt to move forward as efficiently as possible. The current firebomb attack method to push through foreclosures is the only way that banks can proceed and this is how it'll be henceforth. It's ugly but that's business. Nothing personal.