Nearly 16 percent of the homes for sale in the Rockford area are short sales. Many of these short sales have taken months to complete. And often times ended up in foreclosure. In tonight's Economy Rockford report... how some new rules could provide some much needed relief .

Short sales occur when a lender accepts the sale of a property for less than the full amount owed.

23 News Real Estate expert Jon Krause says about half of the short sales processed by Gambino Realtors have fallen through.. because buyers aren't willing to wait several months for an answer from a lender .

But new rules that take effect April 5th, would require lenders to respond to any offer within 10 days.

They would also have to pre-determine a dollar amount they would be willing to accept for the home when the property is put on the market.

"Somewhere in the neighborhood of 89 percent of the mortgages out there today that could be subject to a short sale will qualify under these guidelines. It is widely believed there is another group of foreclosures to come out of the pipeline. I believe these rules are being put in place in anticipation of that group of foreclosures coming to help move these properties as quickly as possible to move past this era in the real estate industry and get back to something that's a little more normal." says Jon Krause.

In order to qualify for the program.. the property must be your primary residence... and your mortgage must be originated before January first of 2009.