Let me tell you about how I wrapped up a deal involving a short sale that was going nowhere fast…
I knew sooner than later, I would be seeing the home again as a bank owned listing. I told my clients to hang tight and that I would check the MLS everyday until it appeared. Sure enough, a week and a half later it came on The MLS for $130,000 as a bank owned property. I called my clients the minute I saw it and we wrote an offer for $115,000 cash.
The bank came back the next day at $117,000 cash and we snatched it up. Not only that, but the bank repaired some broken pipes under the house that the original owner most likely would not have been able to afford to do. Basically, the bank took a month and a half and did nothing when it was a short sale.
After the bank took ownership of the property, we were able to settle on a fantastic offer, and get a few repairs out of the deal as well. The second time I came across this situation it was very similar to the first. My clients in this situation, made an offer of $340,000 on a property listed as a short sale, and priced at $389,000. Again we played the waiting came for over two months while the bank had the house reappraised and had numerous BPO’s completed.
After two months, the bank oddly enough rejected our offer, and let the house go in to foreclosure. Again I patiently watched and waited until I saw the house listed again, but for $390,000 this time around. My clients and I agreed that the house was quite a bit overpriced, and thought it better to wait to see if the price would come down at all. We waited two weeks, the price had not fell, and we felt it a perfect time to finally make an offer.
We came in at $333,000, and waited for a response from the bank. This time it took one day to get their answer, which was no. After a week of wrangling, we put the home into escrow for $339,000. So, we got a lower price in only a week when it was bank owned. Bank Owned Two, Short Sales Zero.
Submitted by: Dan Troy knows all about shopping a house for sale and homes for sale in general. Check out more of his articles on the web.