Be careful, some of the principals may be great for investors; however, as Agents we have an Agency Responsibility to our Sellers! And ultimately it is, in my opinion, in our Seller's best interest to sell their home at market price and minimize their loss and potential deficiency to the bank as best we can. The gist of the program is an investor holds an option contract on the short sale property. The Listing agent in conjunction with the investor presents and ratifies the investor's offer when listing the property. The offer starts the short sale negotiation process immediately; however, it is significantly below market. Since most of these Seller's are facing foreclosure, they jump at the opportunity to sell their home and avoid foreclosure. While the investor's option offer is being negotiated through Loss Mitigation, the property is then marketed at market or slightly below market for resale. The investor acts as the middleman. If a second buyer is found at a higher price that meets the investor's goal, then an assignment or double close is executed. The investor walks away with the difference between the option contract price and the market price. If the bank counters higher than where the investor yields his desired profit, then the investor does not exercise his option. The agent now has an approved short sale and works to find a buyer at the approved price.
Again, I believe, it goes back to who do you represent? If you take the listing, as an agent, you represent the Seller. Selling to a middleman is not, in my opinion, in the Seller's best interest. If you disclose that you represent the investor buyer, your practice could be seen as predatory. One can argue that traditional buyers won't wait it out for third party approval and the investor will stay the course providing the Seller better odds at closing the transaction and avoiding foreclosure. I'll let you decide if this is a worthwhile endeavor. Personally, I choose not to do this.