Give Bryant Tutas a call as he's the expert on this subject.

I'm with Kathleen Luiten.  Persistence, squeaky wheel, stalking....

It's frustrating.  If you go in thinking logically or that you'll be treated with promptness or respect, you'll be disappointed.

That is the norm in my experience. I've waited as much as 6 weeks to get a response but that was in the-bad-old-days before reform. The only thing that worked for me was persistent, daily calls along with emails at least twice weekly and occasional snail mail.

Hope that this worked out well for you.

Not an expert at this.

Persistence! Keep calling or plan to meet in person.

I just connect with the bank - any which way I can.

First a bank only loses money with a short sale. If they foreclose, there is often insurance to cover it. A short sale is nothing but a loss. Therefore forget email, call, every day, ask for home retention, speak to a real person, get to the short sale department and then maybe even find out who the manager is.  If you dont have the time, higher a professional negotiator who will. 

Some it seems the more you  call the farther down the pile you go.

Why are you anonymous?

ARE YOU A REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONAL? This is actually a really important question.

To be frank with you, I do not think you are prepared to be engaged in a short sale. You have been unsuccessful getting through the first gate and there are so many more that you have zero chance of success.

This is your time to turn towards your BROKER who can direct you to the short sale expert in your office. The first question you will see on their face is 'What do you think you are doing?" Hopefully they will then share with you the Short Sale 101 document and advise you of all the disclosures a buyer or seller must sign advising them what to expect of the short sale process.

You too should read them.

Your buyer who is wanting to cherry pick multiple properties from the banks inventory, can be successful but they need representation from someone who knows how it works.

If its on Equator, escalate through the supervisor.  If not, go straight to the supervisor, not necessarily to complain but to plead your case

I am trying to figure out what your relationship is.  Are you the listing agent? If so, you should have a contact person. 

Short sales are not like traditional sales...sometimes you never get a response. A couple of years ago 78% of what was being sold in Central Florida was shortsales...I am so glad they have almost disappeared.

You cannot depend on anything.  Once I waited 9 months for a short sale closing only to have the bank refuse to close on the terms they agreed to previously...they wanted $30K more, and refused to pay the buyers closing costs which was in the contract they signed...the negotiator said that they "don't read contracts"...take it or leave it.

Another time the day before closing the 2nd mtg holder decided that they needed a bigger share of the proceeds than they previously agreed to.  There was a deal stopping dispute between what the 2nd mtg holder wanted and what the 1st mortgage holder was willing to agree to. Funny thing, the buyer agreed to pay them the difference, but they refused...each wanted the seller to contribute.

We finally closed after I sent an e-mail to all the officers of the bank telling them that I was going to have a reporter write this story...the craziest part is that both loans were from the same bank. 

My best advice is to have the buyer keep looking.

Eve

Have you been assigned a negotiator at the bank? I found out if you call early in the morning you can usually speak with them.

Facebook and Twitter chatter usually get their attention.  Their main focus is to manage their reputation (what is left of it) and they will do just about anything to take the discussion offline.  If you agree to do that they usually will work hard to get you some answers.

The last short sale I did was aboutr a year ago. I finally smartened up and hired a professional negotiator who does this all day long. Using a professional who had way more practice at doing them made a big difference for me.

Jill Murty, Realtor is right, don't expect them to respond in any reasonable time frame. I'm in a short sale now and warned my buyer to be prepared for as much as a 4 month wait.

Have you done any short sales ?  Talk to someone who has...make sure they

have received it...and the waiting game is part of doing short sales...likely

they will ask for more documentation.  Two and a half weeks is very short for a short sale.