Just saw a foreclosure notice tacked on the house we're trying to buy! (Cave Creek: short sales, lease)

[Rick Lee]

We put in an offer on a short sale at the end of June and are still awaiting the seller's bank's acceptance. We have a signed seller acceptance, his two mortgages are with the same bank, they've sent us a few addenda to sign, BPO's are done and we're led to believe a bank acceptance is imminent. Seller seems like a good guy, a meticulous homeowner and has a pool and landscape service keeping the place up. We last were inside the house in early July and met him there.

Yesterday I drove by the house, just to look at it. There were some newspapers in the driveway, which got my attention. I stopped and then noticed the telltale papers taped up on the front door. I went to look at them and sure enough, it's a notice of trustee sale, dated for early October. We were shooting for a 9/15 close date. My realtor said to not be alarmed, that this is common practice, as the bank is just getting ready for a quick sale in case our deal falls through.

My big concern is that the house is not being maintained. Although the seller is required to keep the place maintained since we have his acceptance of our offer, I'm worried we have little recourse if we get to the inspection and find the pool has turned green and other stuff has fallen into disrepair. I plan to go over there again today, knock on the door and, if no one is home, go check out the back yard. The RV gate was open yesterday, which I really hope was just to give access to the pool and landscape folks. Anyone think I'm overreacting? Nothing to worry about?

[altus2006]

If your offer is accepted, you will be able to have a home inspector check out the house. If it is not up to your specs, then you can back out of the offer.

altus2006

[Rick Lee]

I can always find a reason to back out of the offer. It's been 6 wks. since we even made the offer. My concern is the seller, his agent and the bank knowingly letting the house go into disrepair because they know I have no recourse other than dropping the whole thing and starting over again with the search. For all I know, the bank could think they're gonna get more money at the trustee sale than we've offered and have nothing to lose by stringing us along until then.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I can always find a reason to back out of the offer. It's been 6 wks. since we even made the offer. My concern is the seller, his agent and the bank knowingly letting the house go into disrepair because they know I have no recourse other than dropping the whole thing and starting over again with the search. For all I know, the bank could think they're gonna get more money at the trustee sale than we've offered and have nothing to lose by stringing us along until then.

Do banks reject offers in short sales or just ignore them? Maybe your offer is not acceptable to them.

[Rick Lee]

Well, we know they've done the BPO's for both loans on the house. Why would they do that if not for our offer? The seller accepted our offer and I can only assume his agent sent it on to the bank to get the process started. The bank has also sent us some papers to sign, so it seems like they're going through some effort and expense here. I just kinda wonder why this seller abandoned the property, since he obviously could have stayed there until at least the trustee sale without getting kicked out.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Well, we know they've done the BPO's for both loans on the house. Why would they do that if not for our offer? The seller accepted our offer and I can only assume his agent sent it on to the bank to get the process started. The bank has also sent us some papers to sign, so it seems like they're going through some effort and expense here. I just kinda wonder why this seller abandoned the property, since he obviously could have stayed there until at least the trustee sale without getting kicked out.

There's a thousand possible reasons the seller left. Jobs, family, got a deal on another house/rental, school's starting.... If you close in a month, there is not going to be a lot of damage. Even a green pool cleans up easily - keep the water filled though if you can to avoid damage to the plaster. It can lose a 1/2 inch a day this time of year.

[Bummer]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

There's a thousand possible reasons the seller left. Jobs, family, got a deal on another house/rental, school's starting.... If you close in a month, there is not going to be a lot of damage. Even a green pool cleans up easily - keep the water filled though if you can to avoid damage to the plaster. It can lose a 1/2 inch a day this time of year.

One more "must do," Ponderosa . . . keep The Critters out.

[Rick Lee]

It gets worse. Just came from looking at it again, this time I went into the back yard. Pool is totally green, starting to stink. Back yard is totally overgrown with weeds, grassy part dead. I peeked in the window and saw the fridge was open. I rang the doorbell and didn't hear it, so I'm pretty sure the power is off. I'm about ready to give up on this one unless the listing agent says the bank is gonna bring this house back into the condition it was at the time we made the offer.

To add insult to injury, I rode through another neighborhood in Cave Creek where we had looked at a super house that was way ovepriced at $339k a few mos. ago. The new owner was in the driveway, so I stopped to chat. He got it for under $300k!!!!!! I would have totally taken that. Arrrgghhh!!!

[rbe2008]

I share your angst. We are moving cross country and had 2 offers verbally accepted only to have someone else come along with either cash or a higher offer. What I've learned from this experience is there's always another house out there... a better house! We ended up buying a foreclosure that needs a little work, but we can see what a true gem it can and will be.

But, I will say I've never run up against agents who did business this way. Makes me a bit sad, as it looks like greed is running rampant again. I guess we never learn!

For anyone house shopping, I will say our agent made the difference. She wasn't afraid to pick up the phone and get as much of the "inside scoop" as she could on each of the houses we had interest in. She spent a few days previewing houses on our behalf, then called with a complete description of each. Any new listings in the areas we were interested in were emailed to us very, very quickly. And now that we're going to have to close a month later than planned, she also provided me with tons of resources from lenders who can move quickly, to insurance, to tile guys... you name it, she'll help me find it.

I know you really liked that house, but if your gut is telling you it's not the right time or situation for you, move on and find the ONE that is just right for you!

[Rick Lee]

Our agent is excellent too. He's just a little more optimistic about this house than I am or ever was. It's two miles from my wife's office, so she really, really wants it. I don't even know that the listing agent is aware of what's happened to the house. For all I know, the seller is stringing him along too. I'd have been none the wiser, had I not personally ridden by the property yesterday and noticed the paper taped to the front door.

Anyway, our agent is getting an estimate tomorrow on what it would take to clean that pool up. He says there's a slight chance the bank will make it right, since we're this far along and the seller has breached the contract by letting the house go. I can handle the landscaping myself in a few hours in one day. We're gonna take another look on the inside tomorrow and see if anything is amiss. This house would be such a smoking deal and make my wife's commute go from 25 min. to 4 min. every morning. The closest comp I saw to this house today was almost 3x the price we have it for. So this kind of deal doesn't grow on trees in that area.

I know there's always another house around the corner. But I'm tiring of constantly extending my lease another month and not knowing when we're gonna move. We'd like to plan another trip to China before Xmas to use up my wife's vacation, which she can't carry over. And we're just stuck in limbo with this house shi.....stuff.