Yes! If you're facing foreclosure, you have the opportunity to sell your home up until the home is sold at auction. A home will be foreclosed upon when a mortgage lender exercises its right to sell a property which the owner has not kept up payments on.

The key difference between a short sale and a foreclosure is that in a foreclosure the bank takes ownership of the property and forces its sale to recover losses. A short sale, on the other hand, is a delicate negotiation between the property owner and the bank or lender to recover as much as possible from the property's sale to be paid towards the loan owed to the lender.

A short sale, or deed in lieu of foreclosure, can be defined very simply: where the property sells for less than is owed to the bank. This becomes an option when there is a hardship that requires the sale of a property and the homeowner does not have the ability to pay the difference between the net proceeds from the sale and the amount owed on the mortgage. Essentially, the Buyer is asking the lender to accept less than is owed on the property and forgive the borrower the difference on the loan, agreeing to a "short" payoff. This decision is down to the lender and it requires a lot of paperwork and appraisal to get that decision made.

► For the Seller: a short sale allows for the avoidance of foreclosure and the resulting negative credit implications and in many cases the absolution of the money owed to the Lender that is in excess of the proceeds from the sale of the property. (Amount owed on Loan - proceeds from the sale after expenses = shortage that Seller wants Lender to forgive).
▶ For the Lender: a short sale allows the lender to avoid the extra and often exorbitant costs associated with the foreclosure process.
▶ For the Buyer: a short sale can provide for the opportunity to purchase a home at or below market value. Another benefit to the Buyer is that short sales are generally owner-occupied and, therefore, the property tends to be in better condition than a bank-owned property.