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this is a great site and forum. I was hoping perhaps someone on here is a real estate agent or has more experience in this that i do and can offer their opinion.
I put in an offer last week on a short sale property. Apparently, some months back someone else had put in a very low offer. After the long wait period that normally comes with a short sale, the back countered the offer with their own number. the buyer raised his offer but the bank stayed at their number and said they will not go any lower. The buyer walked and the agent put the house back on the market at the number the bank said they would take as a rock bottom offer. I came in, and in an effort to get this done i put an offer on the house at that number.
Its now been a week or so and i was told that he uploaded the offer into bank of americas equator system? now it supposed to be a waiting game. Anyone have any clue if the process starts all over and this will take months? or do you think that bc of what happened with the last offer - most of the work has been accomplished and this should only take a few weeks?? or is it anyones guess all together! lol
The agents are telling me it should go fast, but i dont know if can believe them bc they know if they told me this will take 4-6 months i would prob walk.
any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!! thanks!!!
Just closed a B of A short sale Jan 14th. 77 days from offer to close.
luck for me, the 1st and 2nd are both with BofA - so that should help a lot
Keep in mind that Bank of America services 22% of the nation's mortgages, so B of A may be the servicer and still be beholden to Investor or MI company guidelines. Equator is a great system and as long as you get the requested doc's uploaded in a timely fashion things typically go pretty smooth.
Well... Excellent news! 3 weeks after my offer was made & got the verbal acceptance today! keep in mind that the first week of the 3 weeks was spent trying to get bank of america to remove the old buyers information from equator system.
I am very happy. I was lucky that because of the buyer before me most of the leg work was done. I knew BofA's bottom line number and didnt waste any time. The only thing they countered with was that they want to $5000 from the seller. I think he has it, so it shouldnt be a problem - sounds like BofA is looking to milk as much as they can from him. Truth is, they are forgiving over $100,000 in debt from him so they ask him for whatever they want. He should just pay it and be done.
Either way, after all the horror stories i have heard about short sales - i am thrilled so far with mine. ended up getting an amazing house at a steal of a price!
I think you overpaid. Don't listen to what the agent told you the bank's lowest number is. Here's a not-so-big secret in the industry: AGENTS LIE! You wouldn't believe the verbal gymnastics I had to hear when I confronted one with the truth. Not only are they working for the seller (not you), but banks will negotiate depending on how strong your offer is and I'm not just talking about price. Come in with all cash, close quickly, no inspection, etc. Truth is, if a bank really knows what it's doing, it knows there is a significant decline coming and they want to get rid of it as soon as possible. Low ball them and stick to your guns... be willing to walk.
Hi I'm a local agent and I'd like to say that there are a lot of agents who don't lie... Typically I have found if you do a little homework you can find out if the agent knows what they are doing? That is the key especially in a short sale... I'm the listing agent and I have an approval from the bank with the bottom line before the offer was even submitted. No I'm not going to tell the buyers or their agent oh hey you can go this low to get the home... I may give an estimate of a realistic price, but you are correct bottom line I am the sellers agent.
Just like in a normal seller owned home I would not tell the buyers how low the sellers would go... If a buyer calls me (the listing agent) directly I will represent them as their buyers agent and I will tell them my opinion just like I would with any home (whether I'm the listing agent or not, but I would not use what the sellers have revealed to me) to help them determine the value they want to place on the home and their offer... I don't call this lieing just because I know my sellers would accept less... I call it keeping my word and the sellers needs confidential... I represent both parties fairly but without using the confidential information received from either party. I would not tell the sellers that a buyer is pre-approved or have have funding for more then they are offering either... It goes both ways...
In my current offer the bank does want to close quick (before the appraisal expires - not because of some big decline)... I can't say that the RE market is fixing to have another big decline in prices... I don't know that anyone can make that kind of statement as a guarantee... Yes we could see another decrease in the price of homes, but the increase in mortgage interest rates would more then offset any price decrease (and I don't know the price decrease will be significant - but who knows)...
How strong your offer is does play a big role in the banks decision but that is true with all bank owned property not just short sales... To low ball them might not be the best approach... you have to be realistic with your offer... You typically can still get a steal even with a realistic price... Look at fair market right now and that is a realistic price... If you have no emotional investment then low ball away... but if you really love the home and want to get the home then I suggest a realistic price...
Last edited by MarviaFLHomes; 02-22-2011 at 06:28 PM..
Well, a couple things.
#1 - i like the way you think i overpaid without knowing a single thing about the property. lol
#2 - Not everyone does business like you.
#3 - i dont listen to anyone. I did all my own DD. Based of recent sales, comps, area, inventory. I know exactly what number was a good deal
#4 - a common pattern i noticed while shopping for this house were tons of buyers that walked away from short sales. Let them keep pitching crazy low ball offers. They will not get a home this nice with offers like that - they will end up with cookie cutter homes in bad condition that banks know they will never move.
This is our experience: Offered on a house. The bank countered 25k above our offer. We declined. They put it back on the market. Seven months later it was still on the market (with 2 tries to sell but they fell through). We came back, offered the new, lower listing price (Made by a previous party and bank accepted but it fell through) and waited. And waited. And waited. We finally withdrew our offer after 4 months of waiting. The bank came back a week later and said our offer was approved and wanted to give us 4 days to close. We declined. The house is now back on the market. The agent sent us some of the e-mails sent to the agents from the short sale negotiator. It was she who had an attitude and keeps the house from selling with her lack of motivation.
I ended up purchasing a short sale where the previous buyers walked because they got tired of waiting (I think somewhere around 5 months.)
The day it went back on the market, my agent called on it and was informed that the bank had approved it but the previous buyers were no longer interested. She also provided us the amount the bank approved but told us the owners were so frustrated they needed a couple days to regroup before it would be shown again.
Two days later there were people lined up to see the house, and everyone knew exactly how much the bank would accept. I fell in love with the house and offered $6500 over asking (my "Obamabucks") - free money, what the heck right?? (FWIW I didn't agree with the program but certainly wasn't going to turn it down) Sellers agent insisted it would close within 30 days.....not.
Bank ordered another BPO, etc, etc, but from offer to close less than 60 days. Appraisal came in $25k over what I paid, assessors office says it worth $105k over what I paid, so the fun begins fighting the assessment.
Sounds to me like your in the same situation. It may not go FAST, but the previous buyers went through the brutally frustrating part of the short sale process and you got the bargain! Good Luck
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