Buying a Bank-Owned Home - Boise Idaho Real Estate - Part 1 of 7
This is a no-nonsense 7-part blog on what I have experienced from a Boise ID buyer's agent point of view in working with bank-owned homes for sale in the Boise ID area. This is intended to help homebuyers to become better educated with the process of buying a bank-owned property. Short sale homes are in abundance right now but I have seen from experienced that the bank-owned homes are where you can currently get the most "bang for your buck" without wasting a whole lot of your TIME and emotions.
1. Get Connected with a "Buyers Agent" Realtor w/Bank-Owned Experience & Get Pre-Qualified
Law enforcement uses bloodhounds to find what they are looking for - If you are a homebuyer searching for real estate - Connect yourself with an agent who has experience with the process and who can pro-actively search for the so-called "Diamonds in the Rough" houses for you.
I set a preliminary meeting with the homebuyers as a "meeting of minds" to learn what their goals, objectives and search criteria will be when searching for their next home.
At this point, it will be important to also connect with a competent lender. I always recommend 2-3 of my lender affiliates. It is a sign of the times that the great lenders have great "clout" with their underwriters and are hard working. (I have learned that lesson the hard way.....Let me save you the time) The loan officer truly is the grease on the squeaky wheel of the whole transaction these days. In the Boise ID real estate market, roughly 20-30% of the transactions are dropping out prior to closing. It is also important for homebuyers to be informed consumers and shop the cost of the loan with multiple lenders.
After the initial meeting and a search criteria, I will set two property searches up for the homebuyer - One will be bank-owned properties only, second will be a similar search but including all the other properties for sale as well. I find it important for my homebuyers to have these separated. Listings will be sent via email to the homebuyer once per day at the homebuyers specified time of day. In addition, I will direct the homebuyers to sign into my AgentIdaho ListingBook Website where they can do their own in-depth comparables search on their own, 24/7 if they choose to. ListingBook has proven to be VERY user-friendly and thorough for the homebuyers based on the feedback I have received.
Once the pre-qualification has been established and the homebuyer knows how much they can afford, we will be ready to set up a time to look at properties in person. On to the next step:
Part 2: What to Expect When Looking at Bank-Owned Properties
********************************************************************************
Eric Bracht
Real Estate Consultant-Buyer Specialist
www.AgentIdaho.com
Market Pro Real Estate
4355 Emerald St Boise, ID 83706
208.991.4552
Eric@AgentIdaho.com
Buying a Bank-Owned Home - Boise Idaho Real Estate - Part 1 of 7
;)
;)
;)
Well written Eric. We have found the same to be true in the Northern Nevada area. Although we are CDPEs (Certified Distressed Property Experts) we are not chasing short sale listings. Often they result in a great deal of work with a very iffy paycheck. Now we've heard that short sales are not being approved but rather the banks are asking the listing agents to "have the sellers call me to work out a loan mod".
I guess the threat of TARP money being yanked back finally is pushing the banks into action. In the meantime, we are working the REOs as much as we can. They are quick and the banks are relatively easy to work with when compared to short sales.