Anti deficiency ARS 33-814 provides protection to the borrowers in some cases against a deficiency judgement when their property has gone through a foreclosure or short sale. In many cases, it appears the lenders are recognizing the limitations this statute puts on them to obtain a judgement after the deed transfer takes place. There is nothing that prohibits them from asking for seller contributions as a part of the demand letter stating the conditions that they are willing to accept to release the lien on the property. This applies to any deed of trust lien on the property.
Any lien in anything other than the primary position is wiped out during a foreclosure. In some states which don't have an anti-deficiency statute, the lender can pursue a judgement against the home owner. The Arizona Anti Deficiency statute prevents the lender (primary or otherwise) from seeking a deficiency judgement against the foreclosed property owner if the property is 2.5 acres or less and is used as a single family or single two family dwelling.
This gives the seller some negotiating power by restating seller financial conditions that caused the loss in the first place. You may be able to get terms but from experience there is not alot of wiggle room. You are working with a system that has little regard for the individual problem and is more focused on the overall financial picture over many liens. The servicing groups, lenders and investors have their guidlines and those are not very flexible.
My suggestion for sellers and their Realtor is to work with the buyers and buyers agents to see if there is a way for each party to contribute to the lenders demands. The buyers are typically getting a very good value for their price, so while there is often a lot of grumbling, you can often get additional contributions. A successful negotiation in this area often resides with how well the buyers agent can represent the value of the property, understands the short sale process and sets buyer expecations early in the game that this type of problem may stick its ugly head up. This is very much a team effort to get these negotiations done successfully and being up front with everyone when this problem comes up is critical to success. In some cases the issue becomes highly emotional, so its important that everyone look at this from a value perspective to the buyer and the seller realize that over the long run closing the short sale will have more long term financial advantages over the short term costs.
Most certainly I recommend for buyers and sellers to talk to a real estate attorney who deals in residential issues for more clarification on the Arizona Statutes concerning anti-deficiency.