Want To Purchase A
Bank Owned Property?

First - Select a Lender and Realtor

Before you begin looking for a bank owned property select a lender to get pre-approved for a loan and find out what price range of home you should be looking at. REO properties run the spectrum of home prices for close to a million to a hundred thousand.

The next step (can be done concurrently) is to select a Realtor to guide and represent you in the negotiation and purchase of your first home.

The best deals always sell quickly whether they are owned by a bank or private party so watching the market and responding quickly is very important in getting you the home you want.

Second - Make an Offer

Some REO properties sit on the market for a long time but the ones that are a value move quickly. Getting multiple offers for a property is very common in extreme cases; twenty offers are received on a single property.

Some banks determine the price they want the listing agent to list the property at; recently, some banks have given the listing agent the latitude to set the price for the property themselves.

In the latter scenario, a few agents have listed the home for a couple of hundred thousand less than the home is worth even in this market with the result being twenty offers. When this happens, the top offers are countered to come back with their highest and best offer for the bank to review.

Finally, Own a New Home

Once your offer is accepted the hard work of making sure you know all of the imperfections of the property begins.

You have negotiated time to complete and review all of the inspections on the home so that you are satisfied on what you are getting in your new home. The cost the inspections are paid by the buyer and the money spent on the investigations is not refundable.

But the cost of finding a deal killer is much less than the cost of buying the property then discovering that it needs major repairs after you are the proud owner of the “money pit”.

Once you have found your new home and negotiated terms acceptable to you and the bank, it can take anywhere from 30 to 60 days for escrow to close and you get the keys to your new home. During that time, vandalism can and does occur on bank owned homes.

It appears a new industry is developing for stripping bank owned properties; everything from the copper wire, electrical fixtures, plumbing fixtures, and air conditioning units.

So it is very important to do the final walk through to make sure the home is in the same condition as when you made the offer.

Contact me today so I can answer any questions you have about buying your first home and help you through the process if interested in a bank owned property.

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