It always amazes me when what I predict will happen actually does happen...

A few months ago I was blathering on about how much easier short sales would be to close in the coming months. Smart bettors wouldn’t have rushed down to get any action on that happening based on my bold prediction. I was, after all, the guy who told anyone who would listen that Argentina plus the points back in ’82 in the Falkland's War was a lock.

But a look at year-to-year July closings in the MLS (not including the cash auctions that take place on the steps of the Nevada Legal News or what few For Sale By Owner transactions are still being consummated) shows that the percentage of short sales as closings rose from 10% in July 2009 to 33% this July. That’s a mighty significant number.

Maybe it has to do with the HAFA guidelines set in place in April. But most agents I talk to are still waiting for their first HAFA short sale to close. Besides, those HAFA guided short sales won’t be closing for a while anyway. So more than likely, it’s just the expedience of the banks finally wrapping their TARP-stained arms around the situation and dealing with it. Whatever the impetus for the growing number of successful short sales, it’s making life a lot easier for a lot of home buyers and home sellers these days. If you look at that white section of second pie, that increase represents human beings whose situations in life just got better because the short sale process was streamlined.

I just closed a short sale Thursday on an investment property for a couple who are starting to build a real estate portfolio to fund their retirement. They’re in their early to mid 40s, so their timing and vision are perfect. I’m proud of them.

And I’ll close this month on a short sale for another couple who are just starting out in life. The house is perfect, and it’s the classic dream come true story.

In both cases, obviously, it’s been a godsend for the sellers, too, because they got to mitigate the damage done to their credit that being foreclosed upon would have had. Times like these make me incredibly happy that I get to do this kind of work for a living.

I doubt that either of these properties would have closed a year ago. So the next time you hear a doom & gloom story about the real estate market here (it’s actually more like crud & mud than doom & gloom), just know that there’s another side to that coin. Nice things are happening for good people. And your ol’ buddy Kenny couldn’t be happier.