Short Sale into Foreclosure....What a mess!

**standards** · 10-03-2010, 03:10 PM

My wife and I have been looking for our dream home for a little while now. We finally found a house that we both liked a little over a month ago. But there are a TON of problems with this house and situation. As a buyer im only given so much information, but this is what I know so far.

The property was listed at $375k originally and was a short sale. The real estate agency who was listing the property was given 31 days to sell it. While the house was on the market it dropped to $350k. On the 30th day an offer was submitted, but the offer was too low. At that point the bank was fed up with the owners and real estate agency and foreclosed on the house.

When we took our first tour of the house it was on a Thursday around the 30 day mark of the property being on the market. We found out that morning the property had dropped to $300k. We went to look at the house and WOW!!!!!! What a mess!!! We would need to invest at least $100k to bring this house back up to a livable condition. The owners went out of their way to destroy this house when they left. But the majority of the work is cosmetic and we would have no problem making that investment if we are able to get the property at the right price. So we asked our Realtor to setup another walk through that Saturday so we could get the parents advice (always gotta make Mom & Dad happy). The appointment was confirmed Thursday night for Saturday morning. Then Friday afternoon the Realtor called me and said the walk through was canceled and the house was off the market.

So at this point we have no idea whats going on with this house. The windows in the house were left wide open for weeks so there is horrible stink bug infestation and there was a major storm last week. It is going to be getting cold and the house is not going to be winterized. So here is our dream home getting destroyed and there is nothing we can do about it.

I fell for that Intellius site and was able to gain a little info on the property. One being the lender (Bank Of America). So I finally found the needle in haystack (direct phone # to their REO department) and I talked to one of the associates there. She informed me that the loan was sold in 2006, but she wasn't able to tell me who it was sold to. So at this point I have NOTHING. No idea who holds the loan, no idea if the house is definately going into foreclosure, no idea when it will come back on the market, no idea if the house will continue to sit there and crumble!

Is there ANYTHING I can do? I even went to the township building, but they weren't able to tell me anything either. Just that the house isn't currently in foreclosure.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Brian

**markbrian** · 10-04-2010, 06:50 AM

Because of the problems with paperwork possibly being processed improperly in foreclosures BofA and several other banks are suspending foreclosures, read this article at WSJ

**standards** · 10-04-2010, 08:22 AM

Originally Posted by markbrian

Because of the problems with paperwork possibly being processed improperly in foreclosures BofA and several other banks are suspending foreclosures, read this article at .....

Thanks for the article.

That's fantastic, as if this process wasn't quite complicated enough.

All those people that told me buying a house is fun are full of it!

**markbrian** · 10-04-2010, 08:38 AM

I gave you the link since you mentioned it was owned by BofA. Maybe you should talk with your REALTOR about finding some other homes. After all you said there are TONS of problems with this home.

The BofA home may come back onto the market in several weeks/months. In the meantime, you can move forward and maybe find another home without tons of problems

**standards** · 10-04-2010, 09:22 AM

Mark - Thanks again for the reply.

Don't get me wrong, I rather have bad news then no news. At least I don't feel like I am completely in the dark during a process I know so little about.

We no longer are working with our Realtor. Right before we saw this property he was on a very rocky road. It took him 3 weeks to follow up after our initial meeting. Then the first time we were supposed to tour houses he called me 5 minutes before the meeting and said he left his office late and was running about 45 minutes behind (as we sat in the driveway of the house we were supposed to tour). Then after this house was taken off the market I asked my Realtor if there was anything we could do and he said no, we just had to wait for the house to be re-listed. I talked to a few people who mentioned calling our Realtor and have him contact the Realtor who had the house listed. After a week of not hearing from my Realtor I called and asked if he had ever contacted the listing agent for the house. He said no, but he would if I wanted him to. I asked him to please do so and call me back. It took another week for him to call me back (after leaving him several messages). At that point we both agreed that he currently had too much on his plate and we decided to part ways. I am happy I never signed anything with him.

In the meantime we are continuing to go to open houses and search online. All of the houses currently on the market that we were remotely interested in we have already toured. So now we are just watching the prices drop and waiting for new properties to pop up. It seems like when a new property does pop up there is usually an open house so we haven't had to get another Realtor involved yet. But I did find one on HomeGain that looks promising when we do need to get them involved. But as of now I am just waiting to see what happens with this property before I find another Realtor. I figured it might be easier just using the agency who finally does re-list the property if it ever does get re-listed.

But as we are looking at houses we are comparing them all to the one that we want and is not available. Yes, it does a need a TON of work, but the house is beautiful. It is a corner lot so it is very private. We have looked at over 20 properties at this point and the closest one to what we want is this one.

So I am hoping for the best and expecting the worst.

But thank you again for your suggestions and for the information. Sorry for the venting!

**markbrian** · 10-04-2010, 09:31 AM

It does sound like it is good that you did not sign anything with that agent since they were not giving you the service you deserve. However I would suggest finding another agent that has the experience & knowledge to work as your buyers agent.

A good buyers agent will give you the service you deserve and help protect your interests and help you get the best price & terms. Finding the right home is just a very small part of what a buyers agent should be doing for you.

**standards** · 10-04-2010, 11:18 AM

Anyway to separate the good from the bad? As I said I did use HomeGain, but is there anything else I should be looking into to find the right agent?

Thanks again!

**applymedia** · 10-04-2010, 11:26 AM

Hi,
Thank you so much for this thread.
We were planning to buy a house, not something fancy, Manhattan Apartments style but in a different area.
now we have more thoughts on the subject.
thanks again,
David