Los Angeles

[TiggerKat]

We just put our above asking offer not 5 days since the house has been listed, would have been sooner but our loan guy was off this weekend. We submit yesterday and were told, sorry the bank as the offers now.

So, if the agent submits some offers, is that it? Mine doesnt even get to be seen by the bank? We keep hearing and reading so many different things about how these dang REOs work that our heads are spining. We made a NICE offer way over asking so that we wouldnt have to play any games, but then it cant be submitted?

Please... we need to know the truth on how these work. We have been looking for over a year, have put in too many offers to not be called back or the bank wants to refi on the short sale.. please please please.. it would be so appreciated.

Thanks!

[TrabucoDom]

Almost everytime someone posts about REOs and shortsales we hear about all kinds of irregularities and questionable practices. It seems like a complicated game where they keep changing the rules. Although I have not been successful in getting an reo offer accepted either, by gleaning from all the posts here it sounds like there may be some strategy to have a better chance of having your offer accepted. Since there seems to be much corruption, it sounds like if you have the agent of the REO show you the home and present your offer then you may have a better chance since that agent will get both halves of the commission. Many lenders are paying a reduced commission so this gives the representing agent more incentive to submit their own buyer rather than one where they will need to split the commission. 

Second thing, know what the property is worth by getting the comps. Since the reo may be listed well below comps in an attempt to have a bidding war, just putting an offer in 15k over list may not be enough. If the price is listed 100k below comps then they may have multiple offers well over their listed price. So you may think you have a strong offer compared to the list price but it may be relatively weak based on comps and other people will know this too. Lastly, a cleaner offer may be more attractive. By that I mean not asking for concessions such as paying points or anything else where they will need to get special approvals from somebody else. I have seen numerous posts where people say they lost out to cash offers so obviously that is something many REO lenders find attractive, but I think few of us are in that position.

[TiggerKat]

Thanks!

We have a very clean offer that did not ask for anything. We checked comps and felt that the listing price was about fair... so we went even higher.

I just can not find any information about the agent and how they are supposed to submit offers. I just want my offer to have its chance.

[TrabucoDom]

I think you can do everything right and still not get your offer presented in good faith. I put in an offer early last year on an reo that I later found out  the husband of the agent representing the reo was the person who got the home...sounds pretty fishy, eh? He then fixed it up and tried to flip it. 

[TiggerKat]

See, that is so wrong!

[OCcubanita]

I wouldn't worry too much about it.  There are plenty of foreclosures happening or going to happen in the upcoming months not to mention a slew of REO's that haven't hit the market yet.  This is just going to continue driving the market down and you would have kicked yourself for offering more money on a place that will eventually be worth less than it is today. Have patience. There will be other opportunities in the future.

Message Edited by OCcubanita on 02-24-2009 01:11 PM

[TiggerKat]

Its easy to think that way, but when you have been needing to get out of your 800 sq ft house we have been renting and did not resign and there has been talk that we need to find another place to live. Why rent when buying will be the same price? Over a year of looking and we are tired.

[Usugrow]

I've run into this problem myself a few times. It's up to the bank and the banks agent on when they turn in offers to the bank. Sometimes they do it within days of a listing, depending on if a a bunch of offers get put in.

After your agents submits the offer, if they will even accept anymore, it's just a waiting game after that. They might be taking "back off offers" in which case the bank has accepted an offer. I have submitted those before too, above asking price, not hear anything back, and then find the same house relisted a few weeks later at a lesser price than we offered. 

If your offer isn't competitive they aren't giving courtesy calls back to let you know. They just toss 'em away. Keep looking and move on. If you've been looking for a year I have to think there may be underlining issues such as credit or employment issues. Those with larger downs, excellent credit (720 or higher) are definitely going to get first dibbs. Make sure all of that is in order.

[TiggerKat]

No, our Ficos are above 750 and we have our pre-approval each time. We made sure to have our credit as good as we could get it. We have a large down and do not low ball offers. However when the agent calls us back and wants 60K ABOVE asking, sorry we walk. We do not play those games.

We have had houses that accept but then the bank wants to refi with the sellers, or the house gets pulled off the market then its a REO but we have moved on to a better neighborhood. We have been in escrow once in 2005 and decided we did not want to do the adjustable rate morgage and thank goodness we didnt. Then last year we had everything started in escrow but I had injured myself and wasnt sure if I was going to need surgery and thought buying a house if you were on disability was a bad idea. Well, I didnt need surgery and the house sold to the backup offer. But that was good timing too since the house sold for 40K LESS than our offer. 

If we dont hear back from an agent, its usually my agent leaving messages to have never talked to a live person to begin with.

[Brick]

There was an article in the LA times not long ago about this. Fishy stuff is indeed going on, mainly, the Banks agent gets an oversize cut from a friend buyer to not forward your offer. To make it look legal they try to get things to happen quickly, so it's listed and off list immeadiately, maybe even the same day.

Based on that article, this practice is illegal. The agent is not getting the best deal for their customer (the bank). So the real estate agent can lose their license over stuff like this. 

In the Article the buyer demanded proof that the bank had seen their offer, threatening the agent with a report to (someone who could strip their license , I forget who).

The Agent had no proof, but tried to put the buyer off with "promising the next REO house". The buyer declined and reported them...

I'll attempt to find the article.