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First time home buyer currently looking to buy a house and I was told by a Realtor that buying a house on short sale takes a few months.
So assuming I make an offer that is accepted and then my wait is say 3 months, what do I do in the meantime?
Do I stop looking at other houses and miss out on other houses if this offer is rejected?
Or do I keep looking but not make any more offers because I can honor only one accepted offer?
I would be productive & keep looking at more homes. You might find a nicer home and a better deal. You can always withdraw your offer on the short sale.
I was wondering this myself. We have a signed contract from the seller (whatever that's worth.) The listing agent has been leaning on the bank and sent along our pre-approval letter but we're still waiting.
Our RE agent said to proceed with the mortgage, inspections, etc. as if the offer WILL be approved. We're leaning toward doing that but might start looking at other properties too.
We continued to passively look at other properties, but we mostly just tried not to think about it for 2 months (wishful thinking, really).
We kept hearing that our offer WILL be approved as well, and I got so frustrated I almost walked...but I just got written acceptance from the sellers bank today (we made our offer on 1/6), so all is well.
I got my financing and inspection done weeks ago, just so I'd be ready to close immediately when we heard back. I've heard of many selling banks coming back after 4 months of waiting to say, "OK, it's approved, you have four days to close."
What I gather from reading is that an offer can be accepted within weeks, but then you have to wait for 2-4 months for approval? Can you withdraw an accepted offer without losing the EM? What about if you put in 2-3 offers and they are all accepted, then after 1-2 months one is approved, can you pull out of the other two without losing money?
I got my financing and inspection done weeks ago, just so I'd be ready to close immediately when we heard back. I've heard of many selling banks coming back after 4 months of waiting to say, "OK, it's approved, you have four days to close."
Someone was giving you wrong information.
The contract between the buyer and the seller is contingent upon the lender accepting the contract.
One should not have an inspection until after the lender signs the contract. You do not know if it's going to be accepted, and may be wasting money.
The clock starts after they sign the contract and get it to you. Then you have (in AZ) 10 days (or as negotiated) to do all of your inspections. For a conventional mortgage the bank will usually specify at least 30 days for close. For an FHA they may specify more. But they have to give you sufficient time to the the mortgage.
Prior to acceptance by the lender, in the case of a short sale, one can withdraw any offer at any time.
In a regular sale, prior to an acceptance by the seller, one can withdraw the offer.
Because it does take a long time in a short sale, it is a good idea to continue to look at other properties in case the bank does not accept the offer.
I suppose it depends on the house and situation. I just made an offer on a short sale. The seller accepted so now I am waiting to hear back from the lender. However, the listing agent expressed that if we put in a full price offer, she would list the house as Under Contract (which she has) and will not actively show the house. As such, only a cash offer may trump mine but all others will come second to me. The house is priced $10,000 below assessed value, nothing too crazy like 50%.
That being said, I am ever so passively listing some homes I would like to see. Whenever I get to see them, albeit days or weeks, I don't care. There are no homes other than my short sale that I am excited about, so I am trying to learn the art of patience.
If this is a hot property with multiple offers and it is priced WAY TOO much below the assessed value, you may run into competition from other bidders or a bank that will ask for more than list. In THAT case, I would ACTIVELY keep looking for homes just as you did prior to this one. Oh, and don't hold your breath.
I suppose it depends on the house and situation. I just made an offer on a short sale. The seller accepted so now I am waiting to hear back from the lender. However, the listing agent expressed that if we put in a full price offer, she would list the house as Under Contract (which she has) and will not actively show the house. As such, only a cash offer may trump mine but all others will come second to me. The house is priced $10,000 below assessed value, nothing too crazy like 50%.
The listing agent is working for the seller and the lender. It sounds like you may have put in your offer through the listing agent, otherwise you would only be talking to your buyers agent, who would be looking out for your best interest.
No matter what your offer is, the listing agent cannot place the house as Under Contract on the mls until both the seller and the lender sign an acceptance.
Until the lender accepts the offer, they can consider all offers, and any offer may trump yours.
Can they (bank) consider all later offers if an earlier offer was signed by the seller? What time frame do you put on a short sale offer in which to get a response? I think my realtor put 60 days, not sure if that was for the seller response to offer or bank response to approval?
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