foreclosure in Allentown- need advice (short sale, real estate market, foreclosures)

[pjka]

I am looking at a house listed with a realtor but also in foreclosure. We made an offer slightly above what the owners owe the bank and our offer was rejected. The house has been on the market for 7 months and in foreclosure the entire time. It has been listed for sheriffs sale 2 times and was stayed and is now listed again for February. We really want to buy this house but the owners are not willing to drop the price and I am struggling with why they would want to prolong the inevitable and also why the bank is not involved and pushing them to accept our offer.

[jeffvivian]

Hello,

I am not sure of all the details here. But if they homeowner owes let say $100,000.00 on the mortgage, and you offer him a $105,000 that offer does may not clear all him of all his mortgage responsibility and possibly fees and poundage (which his fees for the deliquency in the mortgage added on top). Furthermore, if he is short the bank from you offer and the bank is unwilling to give him relief meaning he they want him to bring a check to settlement, he may not have it so he cannot sell.

There is alot that goes into foreclosure sales and sometimes there is no logic behind them, so good luck.

Thanks
Jeff

[pjka]

Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the reply and that does make sense. One other question regarding foreclosures. At what point does the bank take over and decide to accept an offer? I am trying to figure out what my next move is. Do I wait till the next foreclosure date comes up at the end of February and then go back to the sellers and make another offer slightly higher than my original one or am I wasting my time on a deadbeat?

BTW the house is listed with a realtor so obviously they have to sell or they wouuld have come up with money and taken the house off the market. I also thought about contacting the attorney who represents the mortgage company that holds the lein but I am not sure if that is reasonable and if he would even want to talk. I am sure these attorneys are inundated with this sort of thing right now.

[jeffvivian]

The bank does not own the home until the home is actually foreclosed on at the courthouse, until then the bank has no say (unless it is a short sale). So the homeowner has final say until the actual foreclosure at which point things can get even more tricky.

Foreclosures are an interesting pursuit....the attorneys that you see on file MAY be worth a contact, but they still MAY have nothing to do with the home until its foreclosed. And if you are going to pursue it and wait til it is foreclosed there are bringdowns that should be done to identify all lein holders and the order of which have filed for foreclosure. It is an upfront cost but well worth avoiding any "surprises" that may happen.

I wish I could give you some direction but foreclosures are very unique circumstances and it seems everyone is different.

Hope this helps.
Jeff

[EmmausRocks]

Originally Posted by pjka

I am looking at a house listed with a realtor but also in foreclosure. We made an offer slightly above what the owners owe the bank and our offer was rejected. The house has been on the market for 7 months and in foreclosure the entire time. It has been listed for sheriffs sale 2 times and was stayed and is now listed again for February. We really want to buy this house but the owners are not willing to drop the price and I am struggling with why they would want to prolong the inevitable and also why the bank is not involved and pushing them to accept our offer.

I posted some information about the Lehigh Valley real estate market you might want to check out. It's on this site and here is a link for you.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/lehig...-bad-news.html