short sale
“Short sale” is commonly used in real estate transactions to refer to a situation in which the proceeds of the sale are expected to be less than the amount of the mortgage. Short sales require the approval of the bank. It takes many months for the bank’s bureaucracy to approve a short sale (often six months or more) which results in a long delay. Many unhappy buyers and sellers have found that, time-wise, there is nothing “short” about a short sale .