Bank owned but not listed - opportunity?

Question

Driving around seeing some bank-owned properties that are vacant, but nothing is going on.  Property is not for sale...yet.

Is it worth reaching out to the bank directly to try to get these properties? What are some best practices for doing this?

Don Alder-LaRue · Answer

@Tchaka Owen  GOOD FOR YOU!!!  You're one of the rare and lucky ones.  Are you going to fill us in on what you did?  I'm certain that many here would love to hear it, including me!!

Don Alder-LaRue · Answer

It is unlikely the bank will sell to you directly without placing the property on the open market first.   I've seen investors try this, but have yet to meet one that has been successful.

If you see a property that you are interested in, take note of the address.  Contact the real estate agent on your team and give her/him the addresses.  He/she should be able to set the MLS to give him/her and you a notification that it is now on the market so you'll be the first, if not one of the first, to go see the property and set your offer.

Tchaka Owen · Answer

@Don Alder-LaRue - lucky is right! This one time I had a client buying a condo in FC and the seller was a knucklehead who knew less about real estate than he pretended to (even though he's a licensed agent and wrote a book on success). Ultimately, both the lender and HOA FC'd on him. Buyer really wanted the place so I contacted the firm that handled the FC and expressed that the Buyer would like to proceed with the purchase. The firm passed my info to the lender (in CA) who gave me a call. We had a chat and had to wait until the deed was sent to them. At that point they put us in touch with their REO department and we negotiated a price. FYI, price was almost identical to what was offered the seller....maybe saved $2k, but nothing to brag about.

The times I did not succeed I was the buyer (and investor). Not sure if that mattered or not....IMO, it did not. I feel that I got lucky. At least the client did.

Tchaka Owen · Answer

I did it last year.....though it was the only time I'd been successful, every other time I didn't get any traction.

Bank owned but not listed - opportunity?

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