Comments on: Don’t Let the Buyer Misunderstand a Short Sale

By: Tim Burrell

Tim Burrell — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 19:41:06 +0000

I am not well versed on the laws of Missouri, sorry.

By: Pat

Pat — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 16:52:09 +0000

I live in Missouri.

By: Tim Burrell

Tim Burrell — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 12:54:09 +0000

It depends on the real estate laws and regulations for the state you are in. Here in North Carolina, the Real Estate Commission is clear that all offers need to be presented to the lender. Their logic is that an offer is a material fact that the lender needs to know. Just think how angry the lender would be if there was a much better offer out there and no one told them about it. Realtors in some states do what the Realtor in your situation is doing. If I were the listing agent and I had a better back up offer, I would present it to the lender to keep myself out of trouble. The short sale is contingent on the approval of the lender. So, the lender can disapprove the first offer and accepts the back up offer. One thing you should consider is most back up addendum documents say the first contract can change their contract and you cannot object, i.e. if the first offer wants to make their terms better, they can.

By: Pat

Pat — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 04:20:24 +0000

We put in a backup contract on a short sale and we were told that the seller would either accept or reject the backup offer wihin 72 hours and that either way the bank would not see our offer unless the first contract did’nt work out for some reason. I was wondering if this is correct. And also it has been about a week and a half and we still have no answer either way from the seller.

By: Binoculars Digital Camera

Binoculars Digital Camera — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 05:25:38 +0000

Your blog is so informative … keep up the good work!!!!

By: Tim Burrell

Tim Burrell — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 01:33:36 +0000

You do not go to the bank, you make the offer to the seller. The seller’s agent is obligated to present your offer to the bank in most states. Do not do a verbal offer, they are worth all the paper they are written on . Make a proper written offer with an earnest money check and present it to the agent for the seller.

By: Alexandra

Alexandra — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 16:49:45 +0000

I found a short sale home which has a signed contract between buyer and seller. However, I would like to offer a higher price than their contract price. Can we go directly to the bank and make the verbal offer to outbid the current contract price?

By: Michele

Michele — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:28:27 +0000

Better check again. Chase is requiring that NO ONE in a transaction be related. We have a buyer whose agent is a relative. Fine print on approval letter, buyer cannot be related to agent. This was never told to anyone upfront, nor did Chase bother to read the Disclosure included in the contract.

By: Tim Burrell

Tim Burrell — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 13:14:55 +0000

Your options are to increase your price and close the sale, refuse to increase the price and give them a counter offer (then see what happens) or walk away. The additional cost could be financed, so it is not that much of a stretch. Then, if the property does not appraise, you could go back to the short sale negotiator to see if they will amend the price then. The most frequent reason that they change negotiators is that one of them has too many files to handle, so they give some of the case load to someone else. The second biggest reason is that the negotiator quits.

By: Paj Cha

Paj Cha — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 21:15:28 +0000

I made an offer 4 months ago in which Bank of America accepted my offer. I believe I offered $25K more than the currrent value of the home. I had hoped to open escrow shortly after. It was just a matter of waiting for an official short sale approval letter from BofA. A couple weeks passed and I saw no letter nor heard any response from my agent because she didn’t know what had happened either. Another week passed and I find out that Bank of America changed negotiator on us. The new negotiator now is requesting an additional $3000 which is something I do not have. I believe that the property for which I bid on (which was very high) may not even appraise to that value. I already bid my maximum when I made the initial offer. What are my options now especially because the house continued to depreciate in value? Why would the bank suddenly change negotiator on us? What would they gain by doing that? Are the negotiators who represent the banks even knowledgeble and skilled in these matters? Appreciate a response.