Why do short sales matter so much? In a nutshell, "Silicon Valley short sales" are a precursor of real estate price drops. That is, where you find a lot of short sales, you will see "downward pressure" on pricing. Where you see few or no short sales, you will not find this same pressure.

Most short sales do NOT sell before going to foreclosure. There's a lot of hype about buying your first home in San Jose as a short sale to save money, but there's no savings if you wait three months and the lender never approves the deal. (Or just as bad, the lender waits so long to say yes that the home is no longer worth what you offered on it.)

Below please find a list of homes being marketed as short sales in Silicon Valley.

What trends do YOU see?