At what point do you list?

Question

Wouldn't it make more since to wait until the BPO has come in before you list a new short sale property you are double closing?  Doesn't the BPO look to see what the property has been listed for in the past and if your new listing pops up, well.

Will Barnard · Answer

Here is another option: List the subject property befor ethe BPO but at teh price you want the BPO to come in at.

When you start getting offers at that price or just above, you inform them to bring a new higher and best offer as their offer is too low compared to yoru current offers. You do two things here (not that this is my favorite)
One - you "influence the BPO" and two - you create a bidding war. Some buyers agents will hate it, but it is what it is.

Justin S. · Answer

This is one strategy you can use.  I have listed prior to the BPO and they have worked out.  It just depends.  Try a few strategies and see what works best for you.  Banks like Wachovia generally have extremely fast turn around on shorts, so you would want to list as early as possible to find your end buyer.  Other like BofA take forever, so its okay to list after the BPO.  Other strategy is to  not list at all and wholesale to cash buyers and save on the commissions.

Michael Carter · Answer

When flipping, I've had some instances where the BPO was lazy and went right off the listing price which was pretty close to my 65% offer.  As an investor, it can work out to your advantage, but at the same time, when you have a short sale listed 80% or below FMV you will get bombarded with calls and offers.  I've always listed the property to create a psychological price point for the BPO.  Any suggestions on the pro's of not listing it before the BPO when trying to create your spread?

Michael

Maryann L. · Answer

Scott we don't list after the BPO because we've had end buyers walk because it can take some time.

Sometimes we cancel the deal if the BPO doesn't go well and start over if we can't come to an agreement on the price.  To have an end buyer wait that amount of time, we've found doesn't work.

We agressively price.  We listed on the situation I was talking about when the bank countered at $60,000 and got a CASH offer in 24 hours for an acceptable price to us at $90,00. So then end buyer was in place, the counter was acceptable to us so we accepted and we want to get to the finish line quickly, not counter and wait again.  Why would we counter?  To drag it out more?  We already have a cash end buyer.  I just want to close.

If I can get a short sale completed from beginning to end in a 2-3 month timeframe, I'm VERY happy.  This one is 3.5 months start to finish.  Just waiting on the closing date, which I should have this week.

We have some damn boa's in the system that are on 11 months.  The BPO's were done MONTHS ago...can you imagine having an end buyer wait this whole time?  We've BTDT.  They walk, so we wait to list until we know the bank will deal.

We don't list until we are pretty sure we're getting an approval and when we list, it's agressive to get an end buyer quick.  That strategy has worked for us.

Maryann L. · Answer

Caleb,

We actually don't relist until we're pretty sure the ss will be approved and get an idea of what they bank wants.  So right now there is deal we have that we offered $40,000 for.  It sat for about 2.5 months and I was pretty sure the BPO would go well because the agent took my paperwork and was thrilled someone went to some work to pull other comps in the area.  The bank came back and said NO to the $40,000 and countered with $60,000 at that point we listed the property at $115,000 to be competitive.  We got an offer in 24 hours CASH for $90,000 and the next day told the bank we'd meet the $60,000 counter offer.

We're still in limbo b/c they asked for articles of incorp, and a new HUD and haven't heard back but we're ready to move.

Good luck.

Bill Gulley · Answer

Hi, as to the bidding war, I bought a REO in Oct. they pulled that after the realtor told me she had not had an offer since she had the listing...what's the chance that three offers came in that weekend? So, put it back to them, my counter was a grand over their "best offer" with them showing the viable offer from a willing and able buyer, if other offer was found not to be in good faith, my offer drops. My offer over their best offer has a stop price, so any bidder will have to pay much much more to get it! I ended up paying a grand more than my original offer and less than they were asking! Bill

Brett Sodders · Answer

Will....love the idea.  Probably won't make too many friends, but definitely an interesting strategy.

James Ward · Answer

As you can see, there are many ways and ideas of what works.  Like stated before, you really want to try several ways.  Once you find a way that works best in your market, than use it.

Brett Sodders · Answer

If your pulling teeth comment was because if the lack of answers it's because this question has already been asked.  If you just ring off questions without at least checking to see if they've been posed before you likely won't get the number of responses you are seeking.  There's a search feature for the forums...I'd suggest using it when possible.  I have never done a short sale, but to answer your question:  Yes.  Wait until the BPO is done because it is likely done by a broker that will absolutely see the listing and use that to determine their price.  As soon as the BPO is complete you can list it.

At what point do you list?

Most Popular Reply