Possible good news on Short Sales?

I'll believe it when it happens... but any news about the banks getting serious about allowing Short Sales to happen is welcome. I can't get excited after my one and only Short Sale experience in which I got 4 offers... all above the REO (bank owned) price it was listed at recently after the two Lenders on the condo refused to cooperate with each other.

As this article states, Realtors shy away from Short Sales if we think there is little chance of success, and that REO's sell for less than Short Sale properties (not always the case, but with mine is most definitely was).

In short the article is about Bank of America being willing to accept only 5% of a HELOC's value rather than 10% when the Short Sale is approved. This does NOT get me excited. In my one Short Sale the 1st bank offered the 2nd bank $1,000 to release their over $100,000 2nd loan. So this is like BofA saying "when we're in 2nd position via a HELOC, we'll now happily take $5,000 on a $100,000 loan" while the 1st lender is only offering $1,000. They are still worlds apart (even though $4,000 apart doesn't sound like much on a $600,000 condo, it is when you're dealing with over worked and out of touch banks).

But a baby step is a step in the right direction. I'd just like to see a few more before I'm willing to try to help another homeowner try a Short Sale here in San Francisco.