When we heard late last week that Coldwell Banker was announcing a 10-day "sale" to start last Friday, you can imagine our skepticism. Here we were looking at the worst week in stock market history, and buyers are supposed to rush out their local open house listings?

If you go to ColdwellBanker.com and you can see which listings in your area are participating in the 10-day sale. I just looked and there is one house in my ZIP code that reduced it's price by $50,000 (slightly less than 10%.)

I had a chance to talk with Jim Gillespie, President and CEO, Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC, last week about the promotion.

You may be hearing a lot about buying properties "short," like it's some modern-day Gold Rush, where homes are being offered for 50% off or more. Short-selling is when the bank agrees the home is worth less than what it was financed for.

Having bid on a bank-owned property in the past year, I can tell you that this is not so. Buying properties that are being sold "short" -- in other words, for less than what the owner owes the bank -- can be a frustrating process. But as with anything that involves a lot of effort, it also has the potential to be quite rewarding.

Before you start out, however, better do your homework. Understand exactly what you're getting in to before embarking on this complex and often frustrating mode of transaction.