the listing agent may accept a back up offer if they wish to do so, but that offer would only be considered in the event that any current binding offer were to fail to close. This is not unusual with a short sale, but since shorts can be rather intense affairs, it may take weeks before a back up offer would be given consideration. And the back up offer would usually have to be higher than the one that fell through. Most shorts that fail do so because the bank won't come down enough on the price, so a back up offer needs to have a price that is higher than the current offer. The agent can't tell you the current offer price, so you just have to make your offer and see if they are willing to hold it as a back up offer.

Donna Robinson
http://www.RobinsonRealEstateReport.com