Steps to Purchasing Foreclosed (REO) homes
Publish On 11-03-2009 , 1:34 PM
I have been asked many times over the past several months how complicated is it to buy a home from the bank once it's been foreclosed upon.
Well, here are some simple steps for you to make that purchase:
1. Very important. Hire a real estate agent who is experienced in the foreclosure market. the more experience they have, the better your chances are for getting the home you want at the price you want.
2. If at all possible, have the CASH to close quickly. The banks will prioritize a cash sale over a financed sale. If you can get the cash up front, you can always put a mortgage on it after you get the property.
3. Don't put any contingencies on your offers. If the bank sees that you need to sell your home first, the will just throw your offer out.
4. Choose a quick closing date. If cash, you can write in a 15 day close of escrow. Half the time the banks won't or can't close that quickly, but the offer looks stronger. If financed, make sure that you are pre-approved with your lender first so you won't hold the process up by the approval process. If approved, you should be able to close in 30 days. If FHA possibly a little longer.
5. Have your agent follow up with the listing agent after your offer is submitted to the bank. Sometimes there are so many offers on a property that your offer could get lost in the pile. Be the squeaky wheel.
6. If there are multiple offers on the property, have your agent ask the listing agents questions like: How many offers are there? Are any of them cash? What is the highest offer you have? The agents really shouldn't divulge what the highest offer is, but frequently inexperienced agents will tell... or let it slip.
7. Another little trick to sweeten the pot... reduce the inspection period from 10 days to 3 or 5 days. The banks lose lot of deals during the inspection period, so if they see that you're willing to reduce the amount of time for the inspection period, if you do cancel for some reason, they will lose less time being off the market.
8. Finally, don't be afraid to be in "back up" position. Many deals fall out of escrow for one reason or another so make sure that your offer is not thrown out.
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