Short sales to finally live up to their name

Short sales are a pain in the ass. Plain and simple. 

Oh I get it - the idea sounds good: "Wow! We can buy this property for less than market value, the seller avoids foreclosure, and the bank stops losing money on the loan! It's a win/win/win!"

And that's true. In theory. There's just one problem: banks can never seem to get their act together in a timely manner about the offer a buyer is making. And in some cases they never answer at all.

This new legislation should help. If banks were required to answer within 10 days on short sale properties, our market in Chicago will be crazy in 2010 as the short sale inventory finally gets eaten up. 

Wait - I think the inventory will get eaten up. But what will that mean to prices? If buyers are more inclined to buy short sales and banks are willing to take lower offers, doesn't that hurt the overall market (for sellers)? Hmmm...