Sick of House Hunting and Offers Being rejected! (Tampa: bank owned, short sales) - Tampa Bay - Florida (FL) -Tampa - St. Petersburg - Clearwater - City-Data Forum

Fedupbuyer · 01-24-2009, 03:51 PM

OK, I'd love more than anything to talk to other buyers currently looking to buy in this highly competitive market. We are at our wits end. We've made offers on three houses since November, and each one was rejected. The first one was on a bank owned home. Yes, we low-balled it by $12,000, but it needed a ton of work. Soon after we lost our bid, we saw a "for rent" sign on the property's lawn.

Then we made an offer on a home we liked very much, which was a short sale. We knew what we were getting into with a short sale, but with advice from our agent, we adjusted our pre-approval letter to only indicate that we were pre-approved for the exact amount we offered. We don't know what we were thinking: We could have and would have gone higher had they countered us; However, the negotiator chose not to represent our offer, as they had another one that was better than ours. Just for the record, our offer on that was $4000 more than the list price. Yes, I know the list price doesn't mean that's what the bank will settle for, but we're upset that we lost out on a chance to play the counter offer game with them.

Now, once again, we found the perfect home that is eight years old. However, it is slightly overpriced. We offered $4000 less than their listing price, and requested closing cost concessions. They countered within 4 hours, and we went back with $6000 above our previous offer, which was $2000 over the asking price. Again, we requested closing cost concession. This time (today), they flat out rejected our offer. From my understanding, a bank owned home rarely gets full asking price in this market, and again, we would have made a better offer, but this time, they rejected it. They even told our agent that our offer was the best they had on the table! No one in their right mind is going to pay full asking price in a declining market....and we have a feeling that they're not going to get an offer as good as ours, but we're tired of playing this stupid game with banks. They told us that if nothing better comes along, they'll contact everyone they rejected to have them submit new offers. No way. Not playing the waiting game. For the love of God, we can drive ten minutes up the Suncoast Parkway and buy a home built last year for ten to twenty thousand less than these people think an eight year old mediocre home is worth. Our lease expires in February, and we want a house. We have excellent credit, great financing, and rejecting us over $4000 in requested closing concessions is just flat out moronic!

So now, we've made another offer on a bank owned home $10,000 above listing price. I bet any money, an investor will swoop in from nowhere and offer cash for $60,000 less than our offer, and once again, another home will sit vacant in a declining market with a "for rent" sign on the lawn. YIKES...we are frustrated! What about a little courtesy to the tax payers whose money helped bail these banks out? You know, the mere lowly WORKERS who can pay their mortgages and who DO belong in houses?

My apologies for my extremely stressful rant. I really need to know if anyone else is having such a hard time buying a home in Tampa?

*off to take a chill pill. Thanks for reading.

tjax1000 · 01-24-2009, 05:35 PM

Let me put this another way then, so as to hopefully have the comment remain here. This buyer is experiencing first hand what it is like to buy homes from buyers that are "in distress." Most of us only know what we hear on the evening news... that houses aren't selling, buyers are in trouble, government needs to step in.

How much trouble are sellers actually in when they won't give in even $6000? That is a couple months mortgage, insurance, taxes and utilities for most. My question is, who is in trouble here and why? I hate to think we're being asked to "bail out" sellers or banks who won't liquidate a house when a reasonable offer appears (6K under offer is, I'm sure, considered reasonable even in stronger sellers markets . It was for me when I sold at the peak back in 2006.)

This raises the question of what to do if you want to buy a house right now. All signs say it is an absolutely horrible time to buy. Properties are apparently worth much less that most sellers are willing to realize... some incredible case of denial. So you buy this house and what happens a year or two from now when reality catches up with us? The house you were supposed to have gotten a "deal" on is worth half what you paid for it?

amerifree · 01-24-2009, 05:49 PM

The buyer is on the right track, be patient for another year. The housing market will become your oyster.

BucFan · 01-24-2009, 11:51 PM

I'm sick of reading the following when reviewing MLS listings......

"Listing price may not be sufficient to cover all encumbrances, closing costs, or other seller charges and sale of Property at full listing price may be conditioned upon approval of third parties. Call for details."

Why even bother to list the price, we buyers know that it is just an enticement with no intention of selling at that listed price.

Tampasteve · 01-25-2009, 04:18 AM

As an agent in the game, I very much feel your pain. Everyone reads about what a great deal a 'short sale' is and how distressed properties can be acquired at 50 cents on the dollar.

I have several short sale listings and 2 active offers currently on short sale properties--I have even closed on 3 successfully. I can tell you that no 2 have gone the same way. On short sales, it takes patiences and being mindful that the bank is going to do everything they can to reduce their losses. Sometimes this means waiting for an offer that is closer to their appraised value (while the property value continues to slide) or sometimes it means just letting a property foreclose.

If you are in a hurry to get into a house, a short sale is not usually something that can happen quickly. When reviewing short sales, a good note to look for is "approved short sale" which means that someone has already tried to get the property and the bank has agreed to that sale price. Keep in mind, just because it is "approved" that doesn't necessarily mean that this house is being sold as a deal. Evaluate the price and ask your Realtor to provide some competitive data (also do a quick Zillow search). Be mindful also that a price on a "short sale" that has not been "approved" may not equal the value or sales price of that home--generally the bank had done NO due diligence into the home value or what they would be willing to accept as a loss.

seajoy88 · 01-27-2009, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BucFan

I'm sick of reading the following when reviewing MLS listings......

"Listing price may not be sufficient to cover all encumbrances, closing costs, or other seller charges and sale of Property at full listing price may be conditioned upon approval of third parties. Call for details."

Why even bother to list the price, we buyers know that it is just an enticement with no intention of selling at that listed price.

Yep, been there and done that. My husband and I had bid on a couple of houses like that back in the summer and the banks turned us down. Now after all the mess with the economy, we are seriously considering taking our home off the market here in Raleigh and just waiting a year. I was going to have to move without a job anyway, so that alone is just plain scary to think about now. While my hubby is self-employed, I carry the health insurance with my job. We're just going to have to hold off on dreams of moving to Tampa :-(

Take care, Joy

Nav · 01-28-2009, 06:53 AM

Sorry to hear about your Bank "Fun", but how was your offer in respect to the realistic appraised value of the properties?. A lot of buyers come in and expect to snatch up houses well below their value thinking the sellers "must" unload the house. Unfortunately, if a buyer offers well below the realistic appraisal value and get turned down then they get upset, but in reality what do you really expect. The days of "please buy my home for anything" are over in Tampa. Those types of sellers hit last year and have since left the market. What is left is the legitimate sellers who are not about to give what little equity they have left in their home away.
Now if your short sale numbers were around the appraisal value and the bank was doing this then I'd say forget it. A lot of banks will sit on a property and pay 10k extra rather than sell it for a 5k discount. Banks have to answer to their shareholders on the number of houses they sold in a "short sale" so some are reluctant to give concessions.
Just keep your chin up and keep looking. There are still a lot of great deals out there. Don't let a few bad deals deter you from your search!

Nav

Fedupbuyer · 01-28-2009, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tjax1000

Let me put this another way then, so as to hopefully have the comment remain here. This buyer is experiencing first hand what it is like to buy homes from buyers that are "in distress." Most of us only know what we hear on the evening news... that houses aren't selling, buyers are in trouble, government needs to step in.

How much trouble are sellers actually in when they won't give in even $6000? That is a couple months mortgage, insurance, taxes and utilities for most. My question is, who is in trouble here and why? I hate to think we're being asked to "bail out" sellers or banks who won't liquidate a house when a reasonable offer appears (6K under offer is, I'm sure, considered reasonable even in stronger sellers markets . It was for me when I sold at the peak back in 2006.)

This raises the question of what to do if you want to buy a house right now. All signs say it is an absolutely horrible time to buy. Properties are apparently worth much less that most sellers are willing to realize... some incredible case of denial. So you buy this house and what happens a year or two from now when reality catches up with us? The house you were supposed to have gotten a "deal" on is worth half what you paid for it?

Absolutely. I agree with everything you said. We're keeping our eyes on things, and hopefully we'll be able to strike while the iron is hot. If it's tomorrow or six months from now, we'll be waiting for the best opportunity.

Ironically, the bank that rejected us over a requested $4000 in closing cost concessions, had some issues with the media the other day, publicizing their purchase of a private jet.

I can see how very desperately they needed an extra $4000 ;-)

Fedupbuyer · 01-28-2009, 01:38 PM

Thanks. We'll keep that in mind.

Fedupbuyer · 01-28-2009, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BucFan

I'm sick of reading the following when reviewing MLS listings......

"Listing price may not be sufficient to cover all encumbrances, closing costs, or other seller charges and sale of Property at full listing price may be conditioned upon approval of third parties. Call for details."

Why even bother to list the price, we buyers know that it is just an enticement with no intention of selling at that listed price.

Ugh, me too! After one offer on a short sale, even though we understood what we were getting into, I must question how such practices can be legal when they're designed to solicit offers that may or may not be accepted. It's not exactly deceptive advertising when they clearly state the legal clauses involved in a short sale, but I still think things could be made a lot less difficult for buyers.

Luckily, most banks are speeding up the short sale process, and all in all, we're pleased that it only took 11 days for the bank to reject our offer. We thought we would be waiting for months.