LAS VEGAS -- The latest real estate sales figures for the Las Vegas Valley suggest a dim light at the end of the tunnel.

Sales may be down from July but comparing August of last year to what occurred last month, sales jumped nearly 27 percent.

There are some people still in trouble. So, what options do they have?

According to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, just 10 percent of property transactions are short sales.

Right now, more than 4,800 properties are listed as short sales. A short sale by definition is actually selling a property for less than is owed, not less than it’s worth. It’s a way to avoid foreclosure, but in this case, all of the lenders must agree to the deal. And at any point, the deal could be stopped.

Realtor Iddo Gavish calls it a win-win for everyone involved and a best case scenario for those nearing foreclosure. For the banks, it reduces the loss it will incur on the property. The homeowner's credit score is not as badly affected.

Every foreclosure costs banks and lenders on average about $50,000 in legal fees and maintenance alone. A short sale is easier on a credit score than a foreclosure, which stays on credit reports for about seven years.

Gavish said a short sale will affect credit reports, but on a case to case basis, he has seen short sale sellers qualify to buy another property within weeks.

But qualifying for one may be easier said than done.

“You have to have a legitimate reason. Just because I live in Las Vegas, and I bought a house for $300,000, and it’s worth $200, that's my hardship,” Gavish said.

Gavish said the hardship clause that the parties would probably agree to would be a loss of a job, a transfer to another city or an accident.

The name short sale may be misleading. The average processing time for a short sale is 32 to 34 days, but Gavish said he had one on the books that took a year and seven months to complete.

If a home was bought in 2004, and it’s now worth 30 percent to 50 percent less than the purchase price, that does not qualify a homeowner for a short sale unless the homeowner shows a legitimate hardship.