Any luck buying bank reo's (Bellingham: bank owned, for sale, real estate)

[OcularBeauty]

I was wondering if anyone out their has advice about dealing with countrywide on a bank reo property. Their is a property that I found right before it went up for auction. Thank bank now has the property back . They will be listing it in Bellingham for above market value. I am not sure why they do this. I suspect it is to prove to their investors that they are trying to get top dollar for the home. We want to buy the house for about 20% less than what they had it for sale for before the auction. What is the best way to go about doing this. I highly doubt anyone will be offering on the house with what the listing price is since no one tried to buy it at $50k less when it was for sale before the auction. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. We would really like to eventually buy this home.

[Ira500]

I'd suggest finding a real estate agent in Bellingham and telling them what you want to do, and have them run a CMA on the property..That's a comparative market analysis, which should tell you the approximate current market value. A good agent will dispense advice, but then do what you want them to, which means making the offer you want to make, not the offer they think you should make. The agent will get paid by the seller if the offer is accepted and the deal closes.

[allforcats]

Whatever Ira500 advises regarding real estate is golden advice, and I wouldn't hesitate to follow his advice.

I had just one thought. When I was in banking and involved with REOs, the rule was that the bank's stated asking price for a foreclosure was pretty firm. Not necessarily unbending, but pretty firm because that price included all the bank's expenses holding. servicing and marketing the property until about a month after the anticipated sale date (assuming a month to do inspection, title search, buyer financing, etc.).

I encountered that comment again quite recently on a house-hunting program on HGTV, in which the agent said that asking prices on bank-owned properties aren't very negotiable because those prices are pretty much bottom line for the bank.

Just something to add to your thoughts... I hope you find what you're looking for.

[Ira500]

But with home prices nationwide still falling, and REOs sitting on the market unsold, wouldn't you think the banks would either consider reasonable offers or lower their prices? When they're just sitting on real estate, they're not getting any income from it and are still responsible for property taxes, and they're all hurting for money, so maybe things are different now?

[allforcats]

Right. So now they can pile up the unsold properties, add them all up to get a total loss, and petition Washington D.C. for bailout money!

[Heiwos]

Originally Posted by Ira500

But with home prices nationwide still falling, and REOs sitting on the market unsold, wouldn't you think the banks would either consider reasonable offers or lower their prices?

It seems they'd rather not have their share price drop further, by having paper losses on those houses be realized.

[jenlion]

Originally Posted by allforcats

Right. So now they can pile up the unsold properties, add them all up to get a total loss, and petition Washington D.C. for bailout money!

GGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH H!!!!!!


Sorry, guess that cry of pain wasn't helpful, was it.

[Tony1790]

Originally Posted by allforcats

Right. So now they can pile up the unsold properties, add them all up to get a total loss, and petition Washington D.C. for bailout money!

Yep, that is pretty much the play of the day, to big to fail, book the profits, pass the losses to the tax payers. Good work if you can find it

[Tara Camp]

Bellingham bank owned properties usually go for around list price. If they aren't sold immediately the bank/lender usually lowers the price incrementally until it sales. I've seen quite a few in Whatcom County that have gone for considerably less than asking price recently, but not in the prime Bellingham areas.

Banks are being ridiculous not to price the property to sell in the current market. Bellingham Real Estates sales have slowed to around 25% of the norm and have only lost 10% of our home values, which isn't a lot but I anticipate more to come.

[Sandy Nelson]

Ocular Beauty,

Like Ira recommended, have your Realtor do a CMA. If you're right and the market analysis shows that comparable properties sell for 20% less, make sure you include the CMA with the offer.
Also, it can't hurt to include a financing prequalification letter from the same bank that owns the REO.

Good Luck!

Sandy