Generally, A short sale does two things to your credit. First, all credit accounts show how the account was closed and for a short sale it will say something like “paid, less than agreed”. When you go to get a new mortgage and the lender checks your credit they will see this. Next they will look at how long ago this happened and compare that to their rules and if not enough time has passed they will not give you a loan. The second thing that hurts your credit are if there are any late or missed payments.