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LV Short Sales

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Listing Your Home as a Short Sale in Las Vegas

We have been listing Las Vegas short sales since 2008. This is how the process works today, from the first meeting to the day you hand over the keys.

Before you list

If you want to keep your home, call your lender first. A loan modification, repayment plan or forbearance can fix a lot of situations, and today’s gaps are much smaller than they were in 2010. Here are the options to ask about.

If selling is the right move, talk with a Nevada attorney about any deficiency and a CPA about taxes before you sign a listing agreement. We can give you names.

What it costs you

We don’t charge you anything. The lender pays both agents’ commissions out of the sale as part of its approval. You usually won’t receive money from the sale, and you can’t buy the home back or have a relative buy it for you.

You will get letters from companies offering to help. Be careful with anyone who wants you to sign over your deed or pay a fee upfront.

Taxes on the forgiven amount

When the lender accepts less than you owe, the amount it forgives can count as taxable income. The lender usually reports it to the IRS on a Form 1099-C, and you get a copy early the next year.

From 2007 through 2025, the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act let most owners exclude forgiven debt on their main home. That exclusion ended for debt forgiven after December 31, 2025, unless the arrangement was in writing before January 1, 2026. A bill to bring it back was introduced in 2025 and has not passed as of October 2026.

Many sellers can still exclude some or all of it. If you were insolvent right before the debt was forgiven, meaning you owed more than everything you owned was worth, you can exclude the forgiven amount up to how far insolvent you were. You claim this on IRS Form 982 with your tax return.

For example, say your home is worth $430,000 and you have $40,000 in other assets, for $470,000 total. You owe $480,000 on the mortgage and $40,000 on a car and credit cards, for $520,000 total. You are insolvent by $50,000. If the lender forgives $40,000, all of it falls within that $50,000.

Your loan type and your full finances change the answer, so talk with a CPA before you agree to a short sale and bring them the 1099-C when it arrives. IRS Publication 4681 has the rules and an insolvency worksheet.

How long it takes

Las Vegas short sales that closed in 2026 took a median of 154 days from listing to closing, about five months. That breaks down to about 10 weeks to get an accepted offer and about 12 weeks after that for the lender to approve it and the sale to close. The wait has grown every year: 100 days in 2024 and 115 days in 2025. See the full numbers.

There is no guarantee the lender will approve a short sale. It takes a buyer willing to wait and an agent who stays on the lender every week until the file is complete.

Step 1: Price it and gather the paperwork

  1. We pull the homes that have sold in your neighborhood and set a price a buyer will pay and the lender’s appraiser will support. An offer the lender can’t justify wastes months.
  2. We meet at our office or your kitchen table to go over the comps and sign the listing agreement and an authorization for us to talk with your lender. The lender will also want:
    • A financial statement
    • A hardship letter explaining what changed
    • Your last two years of tax returns
    • Recent pay stubs and bank statements
    Every lender’s list is a little different. We’ll give you the exact one for yours.
  3. Your home goes live on the MLS and the major home search sites, and we work to get a solid offer.

Step 2: Once we have an offer

  1. You review and sign the offer. The contract is subject to lender approval, and the MLS shows the home as under contract pending that approval. We can keep taking backup offers.
  2. We send the lender the signed contract, an estimated closing statement showing what the lender will net, and fresh comps that support the price. Most lenders handle this through an online portal. The first review usually takes a week or two.
  3. The lender orders a broker price opinion or an appraisal to set its own value. If that value is close to the offer, the file goes to a negotiator.
  4. The negotiator reviews your hardship, your monthly finances and the offer. This often takes 30 days or more.
  5. The negotiator sends the file to the investor who owns the loan, such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA or a private investor. The investor approves the sale, declines it or counters with the price it needs.
  6. The lender sends a written approval letter with a deadline to close. If your loan has mortgage insurance, that company has to approve the sale too.

If a foreclosure sale date is set, we ask the lender to postpone it while the short sale is under review. Postponement isn’t automatic, so stay in touch with us and the lender the whole way through.

Step 3: From approval to closing

  1. The buyer finishes inspections and the loan. Most short sales close about 30 days after written approval, before the approval letter expires.
  2. You sign your closing papers at the title company. Once the sale records with the Clark County Recorder, the home belongs to the buyer, and you need to be moved out unless you’ve arranged something different.

Talk with us first

No two short sales go the same way, and most take patience. We’ll go over your situation for free and in confidence. Call or text Jeff at 702-510-9625 or Lee Ann at 702-205-9430, or take the two-minute quiz to see where you stand.

Timeline figures are medians for Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas short sales that closed in 2024 through October 11, 2026, based on information from the Las Vegas REALTORS® MLS. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Jeff Mix, Nevada license S.0074457. Lee Ann Mix, Nevada license BS.0143453. The Mix Group at Realty ONE Group.