Question about REO / Bank Owned Pricing
Hi,
My wife and I saw An REO home on Zillow and other sites located in South Carolina on the Intracoastal Waterway. We looked at it for a couple of weeks online. We drove out to the home and love the location. It is waterfront, 3008 sq ft, 4/4 and the home estimate on all of the sites / tax value is $340,000. The new empty lot beside of the home is for sale at $130,000. All of the homes beside of this home is valued at $300,000 to $450,000.
Here's the deal: Someone got mad and hit most of the walls with a hammer, broke a few windows and messed up the septic drain-field lines, by letting someone back over the yard with a huge truck or maybe tractor, who knows? So, people go to the home and see the holes in the walls and open septic tank that looks like a construction project and then just drive away.
Since I am a licensed Plumber, and tear out and repair walls daily, I can repair the drain-field lines, drywall, windows, paint the home, and do 90 percent of any repairs by myself. That's all I have ever done for 30 years. It will just take some sweat, tools, my tractor and trucks, but not a lot of money.
The home was $199,999 this past Tuesday. We put in an offer of $150,000 cash. When I woke up Friday morning the new price on Zillow and other sites was $147,999 and my agent told me that we need to put in a new higher offer fast because the cutoff will be 2:00 pm Friday evening, so I shot the offer up to $170,200. As I look today, right now, the home is still for sale on all of the websites and it says that they are taking offers. This is the first time that I have ever placed an offer on an REO. It seems more like I am buying an expensive lottery ticket and the cutoff time is not a real cutoff time at all. It is bluff, bluff, and more bluffing from the bank. Is this normal?
I mean, the home has a potential of maybe $340,000 from everything that I have been told, seen, and read. I bidded $170,200 thinking that all bidding will stop on 2:00 pm Friday, according to the bank, but it looks like the bidding is still going strong online. I have no idea how these REO's or the banks operate, do you? Why is it still for sale all over the internet today if bidding was supposed to be over already? Is this what all banks do?
Thanks!