Looking for a real deal in the home market? Consider a shortsale.

A shortsale is where you work with a lender to actively market your home and sell it for less than the mortgage balance. The buyer gets a home at a great price, the bank doesn't have to absorb the expense of a foreclosure and you can walk away with only a minimal hit on your credit -- much less than if you had gone into foreclosure.

But the banks have been playing Three Stooges with the handling of shortsales. The banking industry had its own guidelines that required them to respond to shortsale offers in 45 days. Unfortunately, they weren't even able to do that in many cases.

Now new federal rules will require lenders to respond to all shortsale offers in 10 business days. That makes shortsales a very real option for many. Florida's Sun Sentinel reports that 20 percent of houses in certain parts of the state have been shortsales, while more than 40 percent were foreclosures.

As part of the new federal regulations, banks will get a kickback from the feds to push shortsales through in the 10 business days. Another federal subsidy of the banks?! Yes, but this one could actually save taxpayers money by averting foreclosure.