Let me tell you about how I wrapped up a deal involving a short sale that was going nowhere fast…
I knew it would only be a matter of time before this property would again be on the market as a bank owned property. I encouraged my eager clients to be patient, and that I would be consistently searching all of the MLS listings until I came across their desired property again. Within a little over a week, my hunch was confirmed when I came across the same cabin, now listed at $130,000 and as a bank owned property. I called my clients within minutes, informing them of the fantastic news, and we wrote an offer for $115,000 cash that day.
The bank responded rather quickly with an offer of $117,000, and my clients joyously took them up on it. We also got lucky in the fact that the bank repaired the broken pipes underneath the house, and more then likely the original owner wouldn’t have done the same. All in all, the bank did not follow through on the offer when it was listed as a short sale.
Once it was a bank owned, we bought it in two days for less money and had repairs thrown in as a bonus. Bank owned One, Short sales Zero. The second situation is very similar. My clients put in an offer of $340,000 on a short sale listed at $389,000. Again, we waited patiently for almost two months while the bank had the home reappraised and numerous BPO’s done.
In the end, after two months, they rejected our offer and let the home go into foreclosure. Like the last time, I watched the MLS and saw the home come up as a bank owned property for $390,000. My clients and I both felt the home was overpriced and we should wait and watch it to see if it would reduce. After two weeks, it hadn’t sold and we decided to make our move.
We made a generous offer of $333,000, and sat back waiting for a response from the bank. Within a day, we heard back from the bank, and they had declined our offer again. After another week went back, and numbers were tossed around, we made a final offer of $339,000 and had it put into escrow. In conclusion, we again were able to get a better price, in a faster amount of time, when the homes we were interested in, were bank owned.
Article submitter Dan Troy has much experience shopping a house for sale and homes for sale in general. Check out more of his articles on the web.
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