On a short sale, if money is owed to a home owners association, will these dues be paid before sale or do we need to file a lien.

Hello spotter:

You'll need to file a lien. BUT, depending on your CC&R's, you may have to sue them first and win a judgment.

excon

If there is a lien placed, it can stop the short sale from happenning, since at closing that lien would have to be paid, and since there is not even enough money to pay the mortgage, there is no money to pay the lien, so in most cases, this will just stop the sale from happening.
Then what happens the home will just foreclose, and sell at a foreclosure sale which will take months and then the HOA won't get paid anyway at that sale.