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I've posted a couple other questions regarding this, but we've had a new development this afternoon. I'm going to detail out our entire short sale up to this point, with as much information as I have...
My husband and I have been looking at houses for a couple months now in Monmouth County, NJ. We're hoping to find a home for under $300k, but everything in our price range has either had rooms the size of closets or a 50x100 lot or were just crummy in general. We finally found a beautiful home for $315k, loved it immediately then found out it was a short sale. As first time buyers, we don't have an immediate time crunch (just want to close by December 1) so we decided to make an offer. At this point we researched the property - it was purchased for $275,000 in 2003, with a second mortgage for $46000. Two months later a third mortgage for $16k was opened. In 2006, the owners refinanced all into one mortgage for $375k. The home was put on the market last summer for $375k, then dropped to $349k at which point the bank rejected an offer for $325k. In October, the bank filed a Lis Pendens against the property, and it's price was dropped to $325k. In January, the property dropped to it's current price of $315k. The Lis Pendens was filed by US Bank on behalf of Citigroup.
The first strange situation in the process came between the time we told our agent we were going to make an offer and the time we actually did. The listing agent called our agent and guided our offer price by telling her if our offer came in between $285k-$290k she would fight the bank for us. We decided to put in our offer at $290k with 3% concessions toward closing. The house next door has an extra full bathroom and is 600sqft larger than the one we are offering on. It foreclosed in September and sold at auction for $255k, but that buyer flipped it and it sold again in December for $330k.
The offer was drawn up on March 23. The listing agent immediately sent it to the bank, although the sellers are now out of state and have not signed it yet. They were on vacation! When my agent called the listing agent yesterday, she told her that they would be coming down this weekend to sign the contract, but that they have no money and therefore could not agree to the concessions. I find this strange, because I would think that the bank would be making this decision, right? My agent told her to let the attorneys work it out amongst themselves.
This afternoon I got another call from my agent. She said the listing agent had spoken with the bank and they would not agree to the concessions. We are now to write a letter agreeing to drop the concessions from the contract (we weren't expecting the bank to accept them anyway). The listing agent said once the bank receives our signed letter, expect it to take another 7-10 days for them to make a decision. I have composed this letter, but in it I also put in some justifications for our offer price...the roof clearly needs work, because there are pieces of shingles strewn around the yard, etc. Is this wise, do you think?
My husband seems to think that if the bank only asked us to remove the concessions, there is a strong possibility that they will accept our offer. I think the listing agent is full of hooey and just told our agent that the bank said to remove the concessions because she didn't want to deal with them...it just seems fishy to me. What do you all think - does this sound like good news or bad news?
Well...lemme ask you...does she have that in writing? An email, anything? Is the bank countering your offer? Is that what is happening? If so then there should be *something* somewhere in writing.
Edit: As in a HUD1 was submitted and the bank is stating that they will accept such and such but that # doesn't have room in it for concessions. Have you seen the HUD1 that was submitted to the bank? Has your agent? If not, she should. Then you would know what was/wasn't submitted. The bank looks at a bottom line #. They don't care how they get it or from where, they just have a bottom line.
Well, we did write a letter agreeing to remove closing concessions from our offer. I am about to get in touch with my realtor to determine if the sellers indeed signed the contract this weekend. My agent is a little lost with everything, and has been having trouble dealing with the listing agent. Before I send this email, I want to see if I've covered everything she should be asking to see if completed...HUD-1, BPO, contract, short sale addendum, sellers disclosure...anything else? I'm really annoyed that I don't have anything at this point other than the documents we've completed ourselves.
Hardship package has already been completed by the sellers' attorney, and is with the bank. Just heard from my attorney and the listing agent is finally on her way to the sellers as we speak to get the contract signed. We did have to drop closing concessions, but we expected that. First hurdle is about to be cleared.
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