BiggerPockets

It matters what bank it is. There is a bank here in milwaukee that is priced 20 percent over anything listed retail and will not lower their prices more than a few dollars to get the price reduction to come up on MLS. They have stuff that has been on the market for 400 plus days and I have written on several with no movement on price. Some banks will just let their stuff sit. Banks from out of town also pose a problem because they dont understand the local market and the BPO comes from a dumb realtor. It is really hit or miss and mostly miss for me. Good luck.

I've been offering on REOs for the last two years, and my experience has been that the banks are consistently inconsistent. Sometimes they won't budge, and sometimes they will give rather large discounts.

I've had the most luck getting discounts on properties that have been sitting on the market for awhile, and also the ones that have fallen in and out of contract a few times.

You never can tell what the bank is going to do, so I just make offers and see what happens.

I have realtors tell me all the time that there is no way the bank will take my offer, and then they are shocked when the bank accepts it.

It's a numbers game. Most of my offers get a big fat rejection, but some of them get accepted, and that's what keeps me coming back for more.

Steph

Hi Craig.

I do all of the work on my own and submit offers directly to the listing agents.

It helps quite a bit when you are giving them both sides of the commission, especially when they don't have to do anything for it.

There's a ton of competition for REOs where I'm at, so giving double commission to the listing agent helps set my offers apart from the rest.

Steph

Hi Jon,

Yes, I have MLS access. I think it's a necessity if you're going to go after REOs.

Steph

Number of days on market is a HUGE indicator of how willing the bank will be to deal. Also, see how many prices drops there have been, and when the last one way. The longer it's been since the last price drop, the more likely the bank is willing to deal.

These days, I'm still picking up some REOs at 70% of list price (and if the REO has been on the market for a while, the list price may be half of where it started).

That said, my last two purchases were several thousand dollars OVER list price -- one had 16 other offers and one had 10 other offers. So, it really depends on the property, how good of a deal it is at it's current price, and how desperate the bank is.

But, in general, if you want a major discount off the list price, stick with properties that have been sitting for at least 120 days.

Thomas -

An agent can get into a lot of trouble for giving out their MLS login information to other people. For that reason, many agents are hesitant to do it, ever.

That said, some agents will do it for their best customers, for good friends, for someone who provides something to them in return, etc. But, don't be surprised when the majority of the agents you ask, refuse to provide this information to you.

Two good ways to get MLS access include:

1. Get your real estate agent license;

2. Get a part-time job working for an agent, so the agent can legally provide you access to the MLS.

If you just want an agent to give you access to their account, you should make sure that you have something to provide them in return, as they're taking a risk (and potentially losing commission) by helping you out...

I finally found an agent and it's my Uncle. The deal we talked about is splitting the profit together as long he's willing to help me find cash buyers or hard money buyers. Since he's a broker. I would love to go directly to the reo agent but I'm still chicken out.