There are companies that negotiate short sales on behalf of realtors and sellers. The tend to be well connected at the banks and have done an amazing job for several people I know. The short sale pros dot com/ Sacramento (just google "short sale") is the one that helped my friends. They pulled them out of foreclosure 3 days before the auction, and got their short sale acceoted in less than 90 days, all at no cost to the homeowners.