Flipper/Rehabber · Woburn, MA · Member since 2012 · 26 posts · 5 votes
I was hoping that someone could help me out with the BPO process. My question is once you get the property under contract and prior to the BPO do you have the listing agent take the property off the MLS? If this is your approach have you gotten any push back from the seller or seller's agent?
Sellers typically get BPOs, not buyers. Not sure if you are referring to a short sale, but this seems like the only feasible instance in which this synopsis resembles something that makes sense. In that case, the property would be under contract, and in the pending, backup offers, or hold status. Some agents will leave it as active and I hate those people.
Not sure if that answers your question because I don't know exactly what your question was.
I am talking about a short sale when the lender orders the BPO. It would make sense to me to take it off the MLS if you are trying to get a lower BPO. How can you make a case that the property is less than what the listing price is, in the banks mind anyway.
The listing price may have very little to do with the value of the property. The real estate agent will pick a listing price based on a couple things:
- How much they believe the BPO will come in for
- How much they believe it will take to get offer(s)
- How much the sellers want out of the sale (obviously, they don't take away anything, but if there is a deficiency judgment, a higher sales price may save them money)
I've seen plenty of cases where the list price was much higher than the BPO indicated value and I've seen plenty of cases where the list price was well below the BPO indicated value (in which case, a full price offer would not be accepted by the bank).
Don't assume list price has anything to do with value...this is true regardless of whether you're talking short sales or any other type of sale.
My question is once you get the property under contract and prior to the BPO do you have the listing agent take the property off the MLS? If this is your approach have you gotten any push back from the seller or seller's agent?
Thank You
The seller's commitment to the deal should match your own.
If you've committed in the purchase agreement or addendums to a 90 or 120 day period, do your inspection after seller acceptance (and release the associated contingency) vs. in three months after bank acceptance, and offer a reasonable EMD , the listing should be changed from "active" or whatever similar terminology is used in you local MLS.
If you don't have skin in the game because you can exit the deal at any time, didn't put a significant EMD at risk, or have an inspection contingency that hangs out there until after the bank accepts, then the seller is facing a large risk that you'll just walk if you find a better deal, even after several months of them not marketing their home.
For a lot of short sale sellers the clock is ticking. If they don't execute a successful short sale soon their house will be foreclosed on and they may have a deficiency judgement hanging over their heads for years. Therefore it's reasonable for them to continue to market the home -- their commitment to the deal is as low as yours.
The listing agent on the SS really wants to have a viable backup offer if possible, particularly if the foreclosure date is rapidly approaching, in case the primary can't or won't close. The LA will likely pend it if the offer is reasonable, but may make agent comments in the MLS that backup offers are being accepted.