How do you all stand the waiting for Bank responses??

Question

Ok, so I'm sure my scenerio will be an all too familiar one for many of you. We put in a cash offer on a foreclosed home. Offering $6,000 less than the listed price.

So we get a counter offer on Oct, 8th within 48 hours of our original offer. The price we offered was the same and the only thing the bank changed was the number of days to do the inspection (8 days instead of 14) and closing would be in 21 days instead of 30 days.

Ok, so we signed that and all of the addendums (only 3 pages to my surprise) and sent everything over to their realtor that they asked for (a new residential real estate contract that included these new changes, proof of funds, etc.,) and we had a deadline of Oct, 13th. All was sent to the realtor representing the bank. However, when my realtor contacted him on the 15th he says that he never got 2 of the documents of the new paper work. So this is 2 day AFTER the banks deadline or they could consider the offer revoked. So we quickly send it to him again and he gets the new paperwork and sends it to the bank on Oct, 15th. Says the bank emailed him and told him it was received and sent to processing for signatures. He (the banks realtor) said that we should hear from bank within a day or two. He's said this repeatedly and to be honest I don't think he has a clue as to when we might hear something and wish he would stop telling us that.

It's now going on 6 business days since the bank received the paperwork and said that it was sent to processing. I undertand these things can take time but I have to admit the wait is driving me a bit bonkers. My concern is that they get other offers. If they do get other offers will they notify us to give us the opportunity to increase our offer or forgo the inspection? Or will the bank simply take the higher offer right off the bat?

I've been told in general to give it 30 days. The frustrating part of this is that I have other homes I'd like to look at but don't want to put mulitple bids on multiple homes as the bulk of our funds are sort of hanging out there waiting to see if this one goes through.

I'm second guessing myself now on the offer we put in and feeling now like maybe we should of not asked for the inspection. (the offer is in the low 30's as it was listed for $38k and the house appears in quite nice shape and the fact that if the furnace was shot or wiring, etc., we have already determined we'd buy the house anyway).

By the way, the realtor for the bank isn't very good about communicating. My realtor has never heard his voice. He only communicates via e-mail and isn't quick at replying. When we do hear from him it's usually in the evening so I imagine he has a day job as well.

Phil * · Answer

Ok, let me explain how REO Agents work. They have A LOT of listings, even more offers, and the banks pay them diddly-squat. They must work efficiently and that means NO PHONE CALLS to the actual Agent. If you need to contact them, it should be via email and directly related to something useful like a good offer. If you email them to ask about the furnace, or how many offers why got, don't expect an email back. You must play by there rules. If he said it is being sent to the bank for signatures, than I would say your ok. I would also request they put the property under deposit in the mean time.

Kel S · Answer

Thank you Paul.

This is actually our first investment property. But yes, you'd think based on how excited I am that we were moving in :mrgreen:

I had to put a call in to our realtor and waiting for her to call back because the date the "Seller" signed the contacts was Oct, 17th (even though we just received the contract back today) and the contract says we have 8 days from the time the sellers sign it to complete the inspection...YIKES, that only leaves tomorrow. It would be impossible. So I need her to clarify if that is indeed the case or not.

We planned on buying the house even if it needed say a new furnace or updated electrical for example because the price we got it for gave us that allowance. But it would still be nice to have time to do an inspection if we can to make sure it's not sitting on a bio hazard lot or something.

Paul Cordero · Answer

I have a feeling by your eagerness that this will be your principle residence?

Either way, the inspection process will either make or break this deal now. Don't ask the bank to fix anything, only ask for credits. If you are financing and the lender is requiring repairs, then you will probably have to pay for some of them or ask the bank to split to get it closed.

You have to remember that the bank may have hundereds of deals going, and there is a chain of command that these REOs go through. Ultimately, they may have to go to Sr. Mangament, vice president, or higher to get approval and just imagine how many files they have to look at.

God bless your deal, and let us know when you close!

Kel S · Answer

We just got the SIGNED contracts back from the bank today!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOO HOOO!

I can't believe it. In a happy shock right now!

Kel S · Answer

So would you say that counter offer we received from the bank is not a good sign? Or are those just pretty standard? Their counter offer included our offer price and the only changes they made were the number of days for closing and number of days for inspection. So maybe we shouldn't consider getting that counter offer as a positive sign?

Day before yesterday the bank also sent their realtor a Property Inspection Contingency Release form. We were confused by that because it basically says that we accept the property as-is. But we don't have signatures from the bank yet. The realtor explained that we will need that AFTER the bank signs. One part of it says: Buyer hereby removes any all property inspection contingencies. (Once the Property Inspection Contingency is removed, whether or not buyer has satisfied him/herself regarding property inspection or received any information relating to the property inspection, Buyer's deposit may not be returned if buyer does not close this transaction). I'm still a bit confused by this one.

They had that counter offer and addendums to us within 48 hours. But now we just wait for final signatures from the bank. Not sure if we should remain optimistic on this one or not. So far we have not heard of any other offers coming in. One would think the bank's realtor would let us know if they did in hopes we'd get into a bidding war.

Now I wish I would of just offered them full price and no inspection. Maybe that would of made the process to get it signed and agreed to by the bank quicker.

Jon Holdman · Answer

Even if its sold as-is, you can still dicker with the bank after the inspection.

Getting signatures from the bank seems like one of the slow steps.

Jon Holdman · Answer

For one thing, your chances of getting any particular house into an accepted contract are very low. Most of your offers are going to get rejected, unless you're paying too much. The only case where I've had a contract just plain accepted was where I made a full price offer. In every other case, the bank either rejected the offer or countered. So, even if you make 10 offers at once, its extremely unlikely you'll get any out and out acceptances.

The earnest money checks won't get cashed until the contract is accepted. So, yes, you'll have the checks out there, and you should be able to cover them, but the money's not leaving your account until the contact is accepted by both of you. I've never had 10 offers out at once, but I've had three or four.

If you were to get acceptances, then do the inspection. At this point, you should know you have a good deal, unless there's something wrong you didn't notice. So, its worth it to do the inspection. If there is a defect, then either negotiate for a better price, or drop the deal. You'll get your EM back at that point.

If you do by some chance get a good deal, and you can't get financing, then you can get out on the financing contingency.

If its really a good deal, wholesale it. Yeah, its trickier with REOs, but you can do a double close or do flash cash or find a partner or something.

The other thing is that banks are just really, really hard to deal with. I don't know if they're just busy or incompetent or what, but they are just a pain in the backside. Even after you get a contract, this will continue right up to and even beyond closing.

Kel S · Answer

Hey Jon,

We thought about that however I'm not sure I want to put all kinds of earnest money out there and then have a bunch of $ tied up like that. Then what if we actually got acceptance on multiple homes? We are only just starting out so only prepared to buy one at this point. I suppose we could walk away but would still have to put out the costs for inspections and then not accept the results? I'm not sure but wouldn't want to be locked into more than one purchase agreement at this point.

Jon Holdman · Answer

Try to buy 10 or 20 REOs and you'll buy one. Try to buy a specific REO and you'll get nothing but heartbreaks. Go make offers on some others.

How do you all stand the waiting for Bank responses??

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