Let me be the first to tell you that a short sale is anything but short. The word 'short' stands for a shortage on the total amount owed. It has nothing to do with a time period, in fact, it's quite the contrary.
If you're a patient buyer, or would like to work on this aspect of your character, a short sale is a wonderful thing! Along with saving a seller from the embarrasment and pain of foreclosure or further collection activity, you can oftentimes buy a home with "instant equity." That is, you can buy at or below current market value.
The issue: They're very, very time consuming... sold as-is... and many Realtors (unfortunately) don't want to "deal" with them.
In an ideal world, short sales would take 30-60 days (similar to a traditional transaction.) Truthfully, many are taking 90-120 days, if not longer. I'm still waiting to hear back from the bank on a contract one of my sellers accepted October 30th. (Did someone say less than 2 weeks until Christmas?)
Rumor has it that the federal government is working on something to seriously expedite these transactions. As the next wave of foreclosures stares us in the eyes, short sales can help to save the day.
There's a lot more to these beasts we call "short sales." But, I'll leave you to chew on this for a bit.