The seller wins by avoiding foreclosure by selling their home before the foreclosure auction even if they owe more than its worth.
If sellers were to sell their home foreclosures the traditional real estate transaction with a realtor without a short sale, typically they would have to bring tens of thousands of dollars to the closing to sell their own home. This is not an option for them because they are in foreclosure and don’t have any money.
Sometimes they are able to get some moving money out of the deal where they would get nothing if they lost the home back as a bank foreclosure. A bank foreclosure is also known as an reo.

