Subject to 3rd party approval (bank owned, short sales, real estate)

[b_rush]

I've been seeing the title phrase a lot when looking for a home in MD. What exactly does that mean? Is the home about to go in foreclosure? Who is the third party, the bank? Could I get a better deal on these houses?

[1973 Forced Busing]

Go to the yahoo foreclosure site, type in a zipcode of your choice. All the foreclosures in that zip will come up. Subtract 25%-50% of the listing price and make that your offer. Remember you will never be the one-eyed man in this land of the blind again!

[lscalder]

3rd Party means the bank owe the property and now you are dealing with the Bank.
On a 3rd party deal the Bank have already reduced the price so what you see is what the bank wants. They might reduce the price just a little bit more but what they will do if your offer comes in too low they will hold on the offer for 2 wks and wait for a higher offer then come back to you and said we just recieve a higher offer do you want to increase your offer. I have seen this done many many times.

[liliblu]

With 3rd party approval the owner of home is still on the deed and they are trying to sell the home before the bank takes possession. The bank has to give its approval or the owner can not sell it for the price the seller and buyer have agreed on. I have not heard of a bank approving an offer for 50% off the asking price.

[TeamBenya]

First Off, Assuming that you can knock 25-50% off of the asking price and get it apporved is simply insane. There's too many factors involved that you need to consider before doing that. You're just throwing spaghetti on the wall if you try to buy a house this way.

3rd party appproval does NOT mean that the bank owns the home. If the bank owned it, there wouldn't be a 3rd party that would need to approve the deal. Bank owned homes are called REO (real estate owned).

Don't expect Yahoo's foreclosure site to be completely accurate, either. Even realtytrac.com can be inaccurate, and their source data if MUCH better than how yahoo pulls theirs.

In regards to a bank holding the offer and them claiming another offer came in higher, there are 2 ways to look at it. If an agent is representing them and they tell you this, they risk losing their license if they're lying. Write the higher offer as an escalation clause to the bank and require that they show you the value of the other offers. Then there's no confusion about honesty.

What 3rd Party approval does mean is that the house is in pre-foreclosure and the owner will be taking a loss in selling the home, which is why the bank (3rd party) must approve the sale. Ever heard of a short sale? This is it! You can usually get a great discount on a short sale, but the property is disclaimed, not disclosed, so Caveat Emptor (buyer beware). Make sure you have an agent that KNOWS how to cover your bases!

Also, Short Sales take time, so don't be surprised if it takes 2 weeks to get a contract ratified, and 2 months to be able to purchse it. Very rarely do I see a short-sale deal get done in less than 30 days. There's simply too many people that have to be involved in the deal (and even more if the owner has a second note on the property!)

[liliblu]

Most of the agents I know hate dealing with short sales. One agent I know waited three weeks only to find out the bank would not accept the offer. Patience is the key with short sales.

[MissionGrove]

3rd party approval can apply to short sales and bank owned homes alike. Usually a short sale. Neither the agent or the seller have the ability to make a decision in a short sale situation.

[1973 Forced Busing]

Bet nobody in the real estate business will give you this info:

HousingTracker.net: REO Inventory for Washington, DC

MRIS Statistics

real estate charts

You will never have them over a barrel like this again!

[TeamBenya]

1973, not everyone in the real estate business is out to hide the truth about the market.

I put the stat charts online for consumers every month, and I'm not trying to spin the truth and convince everyone it's a great time to buy. We're at a uniqe moment where we can see sales prices dropping, and they're going to continue to drop in the near future. For some people it makes sense to wait it out, but not for everyone.

Keep in mind that the home price should not be the driving factor. Your payment on a 30/fixed should. as rates drop, more people look at buying because the home payments become affordable again. The problem is that the lending criteria continues to rise, and that's finding more and more people forced out from purchasing who would have been qualified 12 months ago.

Here's a good source for market statistics as well, and I can generate these reports for any local area. the latest monthly reports shold be ready by the 16th:

PG COUNTY CHARTS
Charles County Charts
St. Mary's County Charts

[lscalder]

Can you put up Montgomery County chart as well