Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We made an appt to go look at a house with the listing agent. We saw it twice, and loved it... so we made an offer. The listing agent told us it is a short sale. The seller has moved to CA, and the house is empty. It is on the market for $280, but he told us to offer $230k. So we did (and asked for closing costs). Our current home is under contract as well (and he knows this). While we were standing there, the seller called the agent and he walked away and talked to him. He came back and said that he (the seller) was in contact with the bank and that this will move quickly for us. This is a listing agent who is VERY well known in our town. He does short sales. He's been around forever. Everyone knows this guy. So, we make the offer... we get a call that the sellers have signed the contract, and it has now gone to the bank and everything was in order. About a week later, we get a call from the listing agent. He said "I have some bad news for you, the seller is moving back into the house. He lost his job, and he said the bank is going to work with him." Then he went on to say that a signature page was missing from a page and before this they were trying to get the missing page and yadeyah. He said it's a done deal and we should move on. That the seller is going to be using the HARP program. From what I understand, you can only do that if you're current on your mortgage? And how the heck is someone who has no job, going to be able to move back into a house he stopped paying for a long time ago? I don't understand at all. Something seems VERY fishy. Anyone have any experience here? We're at a loss. The house is still listed on the MLS. We're going to have a friend call and ask about the house themselves to see what the agent says nowwww.
The major lesson is in the title of your post: seller's agent. NOT your agent, not your friend, any suggestions as to an offer price should be doubted.
Short sales are a complicated process that no one should wander into without proper guidance and representaion.
For a short sale, you should ask the seller's agent about how many liens are on the property. If it's more than one it can take a long while. Also you should ask if the price is a bank approved price. If you're home is under contract and you're thinking of closing in 45 days with a short sale, good luck! Banks move very slow with a short sale. I have a listing that's waiting for approval for over a year cause it has 2 liens on it. I can't speak for your situation with the agent, but if the seller is moving back into the house, is it still for sale and why is it still on the market?
We made an appt to go look at a house with the listing agent. We saw it twice, and loved it... so we made an offer. The listing agent told us it is a short sale. The seller has moved to CA, and the house is empty. It is on the market for $280, but he told us to offer $230k. So we did (and asked for closing costs). Our current home is under contract as well (and he knows this). While we were standing there, the seller called the agent and he walked away and talked to him. He came back and said that he (the seller) was in contact with the bank and that this will move quickly for us. This is a listing agent who is VERY well known in our town. He does short sales. He's been around forever. Everyone knows this guy. So, we make the offer... we get a call that the sellers have signed the contract, and it has now gone to the bank and everything was in order. About a week later, we get a call from the listing agent. He said "I have some bad news for you, the seller is moving back into the house. He lost his job, and he said the bank is going to work with him." Then he went on to say that a signature page was missing from a page and before this they were trying to get the missing page and yadeyah. He said it's a done deal and we should move on. That the seller is going to be using the HARP program. From what I understand, you can only do that if you're current on your mortgage? And how the heck is someone who has no job, going to be able to move back into a house he stopped paying for a long time ago? I don't understand at all. Something seems VERY fishy. Anyone have any experience here? We're at a loss. The house is still listed on the MLS. We're going to have a friend call and ask about the house themselves to see what the agent says nowwww.
Your first mistake was using the listing agent. Any buyers agent with an ounce of sense would have warned you that if you are in contract with a closing date, you should forget about short sales, as there is no definable time frame for getting to the closing table. If you were my client, I would not have even put the offer in and if you wanted to put one in anyway, I would have dropped you. Not because I am mean or don't want the business, but because short sales close whenever they want to and many times not at all. Short sales are most suitable for renters in a month-to-month or living with relatives scenario, or for cash buyers/investors with nothing to sell and who don't need a mortgage.
There will be the dopey anecdotes of the buyer who bought his short sale and how peachy it was and he closed on time. Lies, lies, and more lies. It happens once in a while, but almost never. You cannot count on it and you should not count on it.
At this point you should move on. Even if the rat of an agent is lying, you would be ill-advised to get in bed with him again. Short sales are poison anyway. The house probably has neglect that you don't know about. Most of them do and much of it is hidden. People going broke stop maintaining their homes for years before becoming foreclosure bait.
Consider this a lesson for not doing your homework ahead of time about real estate. If you had a buyers agent, this could've saved you a lot of headache.
Even if you didn't have buyers agent, rule of thumb for short sale is that it could be complex and crazy process depending on how many holders there are. What if previous home owner had a mortgage and then used HELOC to use it as CC and then got a 2nd mortgage on the house...all from different lenders. That's three or possibly more banks that could get involved. Especially if mortgage was bundled and sold so holder of mortgage is a different bank.
It could also be smooth too. I know couple people who had no problem but they did their homework about the home and had a good agent (buyers).
Next time, approach short sale as...I think this could be good deal, I'll put an offer in and see what happens type deal. If you have time constraint such as I have to move in by X date, short sale is probably not the best choice for you.
I made that mistake is to approach listing agent directly, hoping to get better deal and inside news. Think twice, seller agent works for seller and not you. Going directly to listing agent in most cases is not going to yield you better price, the listing office will act as dual agent and will get all the commission. Legally in new jersey listing agent or any agent for that matter cannot provide compensation by cutting their share ( correct me if I am wrong, there are few threads around here related to that topic)
You rather just work with buyer agent and let her/him manage properties you would like to see instead of you running around and talking with numerous listing agent directly.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
