When the real estate market takes a turn for the worse, you may start to see many more so-called short sale listings. But what exactly are short sales and what does it mean if you are a buyer or seller?

Simply speaking a short sale listing is when the seller is trying to sell their home for less money than what they owe the lender. Typically, Salt Lake City short sales are more common in declining real estate markets because there are more people with homes in negative equity. If these people need to sell their home, and they do not have money to offset the loss then they need to perform a short sale.