frustrated trying to buy a house

**blondie** · 07-23-2011, 09:28 AM

I gave a full cash offer on a house that realtor told me was an approved short sale that fell out of escrow, earlier. Was advised that this will be a quick deal on a 14 day escrow since I offered the full asking price of 325K. 5 days later and the bank has yet to accept our offer and now, according to our realtor, is asking for bpo on the house again. This is telling me that this is not an approved offer. Am I being duped by our realtor and possibly been taken into a "bait and switch" situation?? Am I possibly being used to start the offer process on this house and it was possibly never in a previous unsuccessful escrow?? 325K seems reasonable for the type of house in this area. Our realtor is saying this is normal procedure and that it should only take a few more days. Why did he not tell me this was going to possibly happen and hang up this purchase process?

**Greg** · 07-24-2011, 07:29 AM

Short sales suck and there is nothing anybody can do about it.

If this house is not a real deal money saver then you will be better off looking at regular sales where you won't be jerked around by the bank and the seller.

It doesn't matter if it is an approved short sale or not, they never move quickly. Plus, you can still go through the whole process and never get the house because it goes to foreclosure.

It is hard to believe but a lot of short sales which are under contract with a buyer still end up in foreclosure leaving the buyer hanging.

**Destin2008** · 07-27-2011, 11:36 AM

On a short sale, cash really has no leverage in reducing sale price of the property. The Seller/bank is trying to get as much as they can weather cash or financed because they'll get cash at closing anyway.
However, cash may speak louder to the Seller/bank, when they review offers, w/o the financing contingency and can be favored for the quicker and more reliable sale. Given all else is equal.
Short sales are mitigations of loan defaults and a process of a BPO being considered from the servicing lender, takes priority. A servicing lender (bank) will usually consider and approve a short sale if they are netting 88% of fair market value.Do the math.

**landontreber** · 07-28-2011, 11:31 AM

Sometimes this happens with short sales. Most likely, too much time had elapsed from the first bpo, so the bank wanted another one to verify value. This has happened to me before on many deals. It is important to remember that the bank is probably just the servicer on the loan and that they have to submit for new approval from the investor who ultimately is the one asking for a new bpo. Your agent can only relay to you what he hears from the sellers agent (hopefully he is experienced with short sales). My advice would be to wait it out if you really like the house. If not, leave your offer in and continue the search.