A little while ago, some clients of mine made an offer on an REO. Everything seemed to be proceeding according to plan.
A week or so went by, and I didn’t become concerned yet. Red flags went off however, after the second week came and went. I began calling and E-mailing the listing agent up to three times a day for three days in a row trying to get a response from him. When that didn’t get a rise out of anybody, I finally had to call the broker to suggest maybe they needed to get an agent on the dealings that knew what they were doing. I was then sent over to their assistant, who luckily for me, appeared to know what she was doing.
Finally after a long and drawn out two weeks, I received a notice giving me an extension due to the bank opening the escrow with the wrong company. How is it even possible to not be aware of what company you are dealing with? Thank goodness I decided to give the broker a call, otherwise the selling agent would have just coasted along and not have been able to put a stop to the madness.
I also have experiences that are the exact opposite. I sold a bank owned property a little while back that was listed by an agent in Lake Arrowhead. Like most bank owned homes, it took the bank longer than usual to open escrow, but everything else ran perfectly. She made sure I received regular updates and her assistant was on top of everything. I got all the paperwork on time and done correctly.
Because of this, I was able to deliver excellent customer service to my client. Please be aware when you are hiring an agent, and make sure you are asking plenty of questions to make sure they are on the up and up. It is important to make sure that your Realtor is a fulltime agent and can devote all his time to you. Always make sure they are knowledgeable about how the of your local housing market.
If you do have plans on purchasing a property in the Big Bear area, I wouldn’t suggest using a Realtor from the L.A or Orange County area. If you find yourself wanting to purchase a bank owned property, it is very important that you work with a Realtor that is familiar with how this process works. If you do have an agent that isn’t familiar with the differences in a bank owned property, you could find yourself out a chuck of money or even worse, your property.
Author Ali Combs has much experience researching single-family homes for sale and realty in general. Check out her other posts online.