How to guard against short sale pricing tricks

The best way to keep a seller’s agent from using a short sale pricing technique against  you is to work with a buyer’s agent who has experience working with short sales and distressed properties.  They can help you to determine up front if the seller is employing this technique by looking into what is owed on the property and what the market is paying for comparable houses to the one you are interested in.  This way you will know the chances of the bank saying yes or no, and understand what a realistic purchase price for that property may be.  Perhaps you decide that even though it looks like a long shot, to go ahead and make the offer, that’s fine, but at least you will know that the chances are slim and you can continue to look for other properties while that short sale is in process so that you don’t miss anything better.