Prescott Short Sales - Please be Patient
In an earlier post, Foreclosure/REO/bank-owned or short sale?, about the Prescott and Prescott Valley foreclosure and short sale markets, I was amazed to find how few short sales were actually closing in the Quad-City area.
After doing some more research on this, it seems that some agents are taking short sales without the right skill sets, and others, I know this may sound cynical, are actually pricing homes BELOW what the bank would actually take.
While I used to shy away from short sales, now there are 10 questions that I ask the listing agent before my clients and I craft their offer:
- Who initiated the short sale?
- Has the homeowner stopped making payments on the property?
- Has the bank received the seller’s short sale package including hardship letter and have they approved the homeowner for a short sale in writing?
- How was the listing price arrived at (BPO, CMA), and has the bank approved it
- Are there any subordinate lien holders? Have all lien holders agreed to short sale?
- Is their Primary Mortgage Insurance (PMI) on the 1st mortgage?
- Have you received any other offers, and has a loss mitigator been assigned to the case?
- How long do you estimate the loss mitigator will take to respond to our offer?
- Has the loss mitigator ordered another BPO yet? When will they?
- When is the scheduled the trustee’s sale? Has the bank postponed it in writing?
Now with the information from these questions, my buyers and I can create a more comprehensive offer, or decide to punt and go on to the next one without wasting any time or emotional distress.
Thanks to blog.franklyrealty.com for the:
Top 10 Questions Before Showing Virginia Short Sales
Some other posts on the subject from other nationwide blogs:
An Optimists View of Northern Virginia Short Sales
The Tale of the Short-Short Sale
And a Washinton Post Article, Where Short Sales Stumble
For more information about the short sale process, see my Short Sale FAQ in the
Resource Center on my website, or contact me.
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Scott,
Great post with great resources for information…
Question #4 takes me on average about two hours to fully analyze in determining a listing price for my short sales. (Used twice to dispute loss mitigators BPO that came in higher… and won.)
I’d also throw in completely low ball listing prices as a big red flag unless there is a systematic history of price reductions…
“I know this may sound cynical, are actually pricing homes BELOW what the bank would actually take.”
—- My biggest hangup when working for buyers.
Hi Paul and thanks for your sage input! Your clients are lucky to have someone that “gets it” in Vegas.
You are right to watch for low-ball pricing…see my post on the topic:
http://prescott-area-foreclosures.com/wordpress/how-do-banks-price-a-short-sale-property/
Thanks again!