Bank Owned / Foreclosures (REO)

Each bank is different, and has it’s own procedures. Some will take the first “good” offer they get, others will ask their agent to “hold all offers” until the first 7-14 days have passed. Therefore, you may hear something within 48 hours – or you may wait 2 weeks. Equally, you may not hear anything at all. Some banks have so many offers that they only respond to the person whose offer they decide to accept. In general, no news is bad news and if it’s been more than two weeks, you should be thinking about chasing other REO deals. 

Short Sales

 Short sales can take anywhere from 1-12 months to negotiate, with 4-6 months being (perhaps) average. Many short sales never close because either the buyer or seller loses patience or fails to complete the necessary paperwork in a timely fashion. Patience is crucial with short sales and bugging your agent (or asking your agent to bug the bank) only makes things worse. Expect to go weeks at a time without a progress update, since in most cases, there is simply nothing to report. The bank’s asset managers have desks that are piled from floor to ceiling with files just like yours and they will get to your offer in good time. If there is more than one loan to negotiate, expect things to take even longer (especially if BOA is involved).

Patience and Flexibility

In both cases, the banks will move according to their own timelines. This can often be frustrating (and unreasonable). You might be told to “hurry up and wait” for weeks at a time, only to receive a phone call telling you that closing is set to take place 48 hours later. It’s not fair, but for now at least, the banks are running the show. They keey to success with both short sales and bank owned foreclosures is patience and flexibility.

Why Didn’t They Take My Offer?!

In almost all cases, the banks receive multiple offers on their foreclosure properties. A dozen cash offers on condo conversion foreclosures is not uncommon these days.

Understand that the “best” offer from the bank’s perspective is not always not be the highest offer. There are many factors that determine the best offer, price is just one of them. Other factors are ability to close and the amount of deposit. Some banks prefer to offer their properties to first-time buyers or owner occupiers before considering investors. You may “get lucky” first time, equally, you should be prepared to make offers on several properties in order to ensure sucess. Perserverence is key!

As always, if you have any questions or need assistance finding or bidding on property, contact us here at Condo Metropolis on: 407-290-3408.