Friday, January 18, 2008

Searching for Short Sales: Southwest Florida Homes for Sale

So, in my last post I mentioned a client of mine that was deciding on putting an offer in on one of two homes she liked. One was a short sale, and one was just a great deal in a good location. You can look back at my last post to read about short sales, or email me if you have questions.

She decided to try to buy the short sale home, which already had an offer in on it. It was a bit risky because it may have taken weeks to hear from the bank whether they were going to accept the current offer or not, and then whether they would accept our backup offer or not. Short sales can be great deals, but they are a little more complicated, time consuming and frustrating for just about everyone involved. Be sure you know what is involved before you journey into the world of the short sale/pre-foreclosure. Here's why: You can place an offer and wait for 30-45 days for the banks decision and if they deny your offer, you have to start the process of looking for your dream home all over again.

That's not too big a deal if you're like my clients: renting and in no immediate hurry to move. They just want to make sure they're getting the best deal. Unfortunately, the bank did come bank and deny the short sale as of earlier today. Luckily, we had just put the offer in this week, the poor folks who put in the previous offer had been waiting almost a month!

The bank denied it because they felt that the sellers could come up with money to help the sale close, to the tune of 70k on a 350k short sale! My guess is that the bank decided that the appraisal or BPO (Broker's Price Opinion) showed them that the home was worth closer to 420k, and either the buyers or the sellers would need to come up with that difference. The bank is already owed close to 500k, so they're going to lose a chunk of money anyway, they may as well take the chance at getting a little more upfront and if they do go to foreclosure, hopefully they'll still make more than they would with this short sale. Only time will tell...

I'm going to post one of my listed homes for sale in Southwest Florida this weekend, I really like this one and I've got a good feeling it's going to sell soon. Let me know what you think when it comes out...

See you soon, Jeff

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