In Part 4 of this series How to bid on a HUD home we learned how to enter a bid on a HUD property in Georgia. Now we will examine what happens after the bid is submitted:

Once you have entered a bid on a HUD home, you must wait until the offer deadline expires before you will know whether or not you have been successful and your bid has been accepted.

Usually, within a few hours of the deadline, one of three possibilities occurs:

1. No bid is accepted by HUD, and the property goes to a day-by-day  bid process. When this occurs, bids may be submitted daily to HUD until such a time as one bid is accepted. This process can go on for several weeks and the property remains available to sale.
2. Another offer is accepted, and you lose the bid. This is probably, though not necessarily the end of your opportunity to purchase the property. If, as part of your bid, you elected the option of being in a back-up position, you may have a second chance if the winning bidders fail to execute their contract or close the property.
3. Your bid is "acknowledged." If your offer is accepted as the winning bid, the clock starts ticking. You agent will have two business days to deliver the original contracts signed in blue ink to the HUD contractor. Along with the contract, a copy of the earnest money check and a lender pre-approval letter must be submitted to create a valid contract.

The contract does not become official until it is signed by a representative for HUD. At the time that it is signed, it is email to your agent and the property status is changed to "under contract."

It's official, and it's time to move to the next phase of the process.

Next: Part 6, Taking the HUD contract through to closing? Previous: How to bid on a HUD home.