Sacramento

[kenshin1979]

Hi guys,

Is this normal procedure

my offer has been accepted for a short sale house and they require as to put our earn money deposit to escrow and wait 60 days or less to get the aproval from the bank.is the escrow will withdraw my money right away?

earnest money deposit is not refundable for 60 days from the sellers acceptance,how about after 60days I change my mind can I just walk away and get my money back?does this means I cant go look for the house til 60 days?how about on that 60days I found the other house I'm looking for that means I'm stuck?

thanks!!

[scottca]

Don't open escrow until you have bank approval.  Been there, done that.

Scott

[kenshin1979]

what's gonna happen if i open it?will I still get my money back if I decided not to go through?

thanks!!

[scottca]

If YOU decide not to go through with the deal prior to the 60 days, good luck getting the money back. 

I recently purchased a SS house.  The first SS house I put an offer on, the listing agent insisted that escrow be open immediately.  After about 70 days, the 3rd mortgage holder (yes, I said 3rd) refused to play ball and the deal fell through.  I was able to get my money back.  During that time I realized I had made a mistake and should have never opened escrow and put the money up at that point of the deal.  My agent did try to tell me not to do it, but I did it anyway.

The second SS house I put an offer on, the Listing Agent, didn't require that we open escrow until the bank approved the sale and issued an approval letter.  A much more logical and civilized way of doing thing IMHO.  

If there is the smallest of chance that you will walk from the deal before the 60 days, don't open escrow at this point.  If the Listing Agent insists, I would say bye bye and continue to look.  There are plently of other reasonable Listing Agents out there.

For the record, it took me approximately 145 days to close on the second SS house.

Scott

[browser]

You have no deal until you have written bank approval.  There is no need to open escrow until you have that written approval from the bank. 

On our first unsuccessful SS offer, we foolishly put earnest money down.  The seller was really just buying time and the place went into foreclosure.  It took a few jittery weeks to get our earnest money back.  Never again.

On our successful short sale, we insisted on no earnest money down and did not open escrow until we had written bank approval.  It took a long time to go through, but we had peace of mind knowing there was no money at stake.

Time and patience usually pay off.  I hope the best for you.

browser

[kenshin1979]

Thanks for all the info!!!

just hoping I get my money back if the transaction fail my agent tell me its ok to put the money.i think he just in a hurry so he can move on with his another client...

[Yeahbubby]

This has become more common we are currently in the short sale process. The listing agent/ seller required us to place our earnest money into escrow as well . I believe this a way of keeping their buyer, because the process can take 3-4 mo to be approve only to then have the buyer walk away. If this is the  home you love, has all your must have and your willing to wait go for it that what we are doing.  Our home is a pre-approved short sale two buyer before us had to walk away for some reason or other.

Good Luck!