A short sale is a term that is used to indicate that the seller may end up selling the home for less than the outstanding mortgage (s) on the home. In this case, there is a high likelyhood that this is the case. The home appears to have been financed with lenders associated with sub-prime.
From what I understand, if a home is listed in the NWMLS and the sale is expected to be a "short sale," the listing must disclose this.
Some lenders will take a loss and others may not. Hope that helps.
PS. Some homes that are short sales are not necessarily a candidate for a good buy. In fact, many homes that have sold as a "short sale" have a history of enormous increases in sales prices over a very short period of time, say less than 5 yrs for example. While you may stumble upon a home marketed as a short sale, it would be very wise to see the chain of title/sales over the last few years. With the recent appreciation gains over the last few years, recently lenders have been scrutinizing chain of title/sales on the subject property being appraised. This is to help cut down on the fraud. Just slighly too late in my opinion.