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I'm the buyer in a short sale. The house was listed at $160,000, which is close to fair market value in our area (Tampa, FL). Our offer was signed off by the sellers and went to the bank at $147,000. 35 days later, the bank countered at $185,000. I was shocked! I really expected them to counter back close to listing price, which we would have paid since it's fair market value. My buyer's agent said that we would present recent sold comps (including the house next door, which closed on Dec 30th) to the bank to help prove to them that their price is too high.
Has anyone had experience with this? Is there any hope at all that the bank will agree to a fair value of $160,000? I really love the house and will pay market value, but I think that $25,000 above that is ridiculous. I wonder if they're just putting a number out there to see if we'll bite or not.
The bank most likely based their counter offer on the appraised value. Perhaps your idea of FMV, the appraisers, and banks don't mesh. Have your agent get more information.
No multiple offers- from what I understand, in Florida, once an offer is made, the house moves to "pending" status and the bank is not allowed to entertain any other offers but the one on the table. The house was on the market for 77 days before our contract was submitted. Perhaps the answer is: "there is no answer" and we'll have to wait this one out. I'm just disappointed, that's all.
You also have to keep in mind that short sale basically means the bank is 'writing off' whatever monies they DON"T get towards the existing debt - thus, the bank wants to get the absolute most they can.
A house is worth what someone is willing to pay for it, in essence. If this is one of those 'gotta have it' homes, figure out what your maximum price would be and don't go over that. I know some will come back and say that comps, etc. should determine the price (which in a way it does) and of course, there's always another house out there - tons actually!
A counter offer means that at least they're willing to negotiate - it's better than them just flat out rejecting the offer. Consider yourself lucky on those grounds!
P.S. You offered almost $25K lower than asking, they countered about $25K over asking - think maybe they're headed towards listed price?
Banks order BPOs or Broker Price Opinions to determine a market value. It's not unusual for them to order two or three actually. These are not appraisals but they are similar to CMAs that your agent does for you. You might get away with a little below that but that often means the lender will want the seller to come up with money that they probably don't have. If your agent hasn't dealt with this lender before ask him/her to ask around the office to see if anyone else has had success with them. There's no shame in asking for advice and it could help you quite a bit.
The funny thing is, just 2 days before they came back with "$185,000", the listing agent told us that there was something in our file that indicated that "the offer was in line with the BPO." I was happy about that, and then the bottom dropped out with this high counter offer.
Perhaps peachstategal was right, and they're going to try and find a middle ground with us. I just wish they would have went that route to begin with, as we'd be signing papers right now.
Did the sellers do a cash out refinance? Are there more than 1 lien holder?
These are factors can will slow down a short sell.
In Tampa (and I hate to use the word "bottom") But in Tampa in particular, homes below $200K are in very high demand (because they use to cost $300K and up). That's another factor in the banks not going much lower.
I think that you had an inflated bpo. I would be asking for the bank to do another one, or try to provide the best comps that you can on your own. Sometimes you can get them to look at outside info. Sounds like you have a good agent, though.
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