How a short-sale purchase runs
You want to sell. We look at the house and the loan. We make a written offer. You are the seller. We are the buyer. Then the servicer has to approve a payoff below the balance.
That approval is the slow part. It is why you do not start a short sale the week of the sale date and expect a miracle. If a listing is required, someone else lists it. We stay the buyer.
If we assign the contract later, we are still the buyer on the paper until the assignee closes. Close: you deed the house, the lien is released on the terms the lender approved. How we buy.