Short Sale approval letters taking forever!

When you are buying a house that is being sold short of what is owed on the property, remember to build enough time into your plan.  And you must be patient.  Do not take any actions that will end up costing you money until the lender's approval is acquired.  We have been waiting for an approval letter from BofA on a property for over 3 months now, and this is the second time.  After sending an offer to BofA in February, the buyer wanted inspections and then asked for a price reduction.  The lender did not want to come down far enough so we went with a backup offer.  Since 90 had passed the lender started the process all over again and this time around we got a very uncooperative negotiator who is intentionally (we think) dragging their feet on our file.  After discussions with supervisors who assured us our request had been "fast-tracked" it's still been another 10 days.  Our new buyer is patient but how long must we wait for our approval letter?  And there is a second lienholder who needs to give their stamp of approval as well.  Aye carumba...