This is one of the most frustrating things for a buyer in today's Real Estate market.  You do your homework and come prepared to buy a home in Big Bear.  You come to Big Bear and meet with your Realtor with your checkbook and your Pre Approval letter.  He has shown you the best 5-6 properties that fit your parameters and you are prepared to make an offer.  The home that you have chosen is a bank owned property and your Realtor informs you that even though you are pre approved, you will need to get a pre qualification letter from the bank who owns the property.  You simply ask, WHY?

The banks are offering their foreclosed homes in the Big Bear area at extraordinary prices.  If you decided to buy a bank owned, REO home in Big Bear, then you'll be playing by the banks rules.  Not only will many banks ask you to pre qualify with them, but they are going to be making a lot of changes in the structure of the offer.  For example, the California Residential Purchase Contract gives the seller 7 days to provide the buyer will all disclosures.  The RPA also gives the buyer 17 days from date of acceptance to review the seller's disclosures and perform any inspections that they wish to do.  Once the bank accepts your offer, they are going to send an addendum changing your inspection times from 17 days to either 5 or 10 days. They are going to change the wording on how to terminate the contract if you find problems with your inspections.  The bottom line is that if you plan to buy a bank owned home in Big Bear, you need to read and understand the fine print in the addendum.  If the fine print says that the bank will only accept a Cashier's check or money order at close, DON'T bring in a personal check.  The ramifications of bringing in a personal check at close of escrow are that escrow now must wait 14 days for the check to clear the bank.  This could delay the close of escrow and you could be paying the $100.00 per Diem for going past the close date.  I've seen it happen too many times where the buyers and their agents don't read through the addendum and it costs the buyer money. 

So, if you plan to buy a bank owned, REO property in Big Bear be prepared to get pre qualified with the bank who owns the property for sale. Be prepared to work with a short inspection time frame and understand that you are buying the property as is.  The most important comment that I can make is to make sure that you read and understand the addendum before you sign it.  Make sure that you understand the time frames.