I used to do commercial back in the 90's but have since switched over to the high volume residential REO & Short Sale these past few years. I have done over 50 residential short sales and have them down to a science now.

I was thinking about going after some Commercial Short Sales. Have any of you attempted one? If so, how did it go? If you have done residential, how would you compare the differences between the two? I would imagine that the hardship would be based more so off the assets income rather than the borrower's income.

I am trying to decide if it is worth going after these or not. I would love to hear about your experiences.

The way securities and other commercial loan types are structured short sales are more difficult to achieve than residential ones.

There are usually so many layers of smaller loans that the first will just foreclose and wipe out all the junk.

Hope it helps.

Here's an article you may find of use as well:

Wary of Realizing Losses, Lenders "Pretend & Extend":
http://retailtrafficmag.com/finance/lending/lenders-wary-losses-0714/

if the loan is a portfolio loan (the bank has it on the books) it would be possible to short sale.

but many commercial loans are "tranches" and securitized and sold to thousands of investors in tiny slivers... it would make it impossible to get s short sale done... it would be way easier to buy the first mortgage or any piece of it you can get your hands on and then go for foreclosure and pay off all lenders ahead of you.

Not an expert on the commercial short sales however I have completed a few. One thing I learned if compared to residential is the (dual) qualifications so to speak. On residential you can pay for it or you cannot. On commercial you need the books/tax returns to verify there is not enough income and in most cases )smaller commercial) you need to verify that the owner as well cannot afford the payment which can be difficult.

I'm looking at doing more commercial deals in 2010. I think the commercial market is going to have a lot of activity for the next couple of years.