A question I seem to get quite a bit these days from my clients is ” What is the difference between short sales and REO’s?” I then , usually, go into a whole explanation of the pro’s and con’s of each, and end up telling them that REO’s are superior in every way. I have a couple of dealings over the past couple of months that really bring this point home.
The first family I had been dealing with for a little of a year. They were from North Hollywood and had been in search of a place in my area for quite awhile. When we first began our search, we couldn’t find anything that sparked their interests. They had made the decision to wait about a year or so in the hopes that the prices of homes would eventually fall.
Recently, I took this same couple on the hunt again, and they finally found a cabin that they felt was perfect for them. The cabin sat on a beautifully Oak Tree serene setting, and was impeccably clean. The asking price was a $149,000, but well worth it. There was one problem with the cabin, and that was that it was listed as a short sale. I did of course explain to the couple the hassles that typically come along with buying a home on a short sale, but they were so smitten with the property, they were willing to take their chances.
Over a month into the process, and we still hadn’t heard a response back. It was around this time that I had come to the conclusion that the selling agent hadn’t done his part in filing the short sale paperwork. I informed my clients that the only option we had now was to wait until the bank responded. The selling agent contacted me over a month later to inform me that the bank had snatched this property from him, and didn’t respond to our offer.
Which just goes to show you that short sales can be very unpredictable. I am sure this saga will continue…
Article submitter M. Kohn has much experience shopping a home for sale and homes for sale in general. Check out more of his articles on the web.
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