I am currently representing a buyer who wants to make an offer on a short sale. It is absolutely astounding how many agents are listing short sales without any training... I went through the Short Sale CDPE training and have a few under my belt, and one thing that you must ask from the listing agent before you waste your time and your buyer's time is the following two part question:
Are you presenting all offers to the lender(s) or are you going to submit just one offer and hold the other ones as backups ?
If the listing agent says they are submitting all offers, I run the other way unless my buyers insist on making an offer. Here are the main reasons behind walking away:
- If the listing agent presents all offers as they are coming in, the lenders have no incentive to make a decision anytime soon because they think they may get a higher offer than the one on the table the next day.
- 90% of the time if you push this listing agent, he or she will tell you where your offer needs to be to beat the current highest offer. So basically you are in a bidding war...
- Legally, can the seller have multiple contracts that are not backups on the same property, even if they are contingent on third party approval ?
If you have to present an offer in a situation like this, make sure you include two clauses in the offer to protect your buyer(s):
- the buyer(s) can withdraw this offer at any time and get a full refund of any good faith deposit
- the good faith deposit is only due upon bank approval of the short sale (no money is tied)
Ben Giordano, MBA, CDPE, REOS, MILHM, Realtor
Selling the best waterfront from Palm Beach to South Beach
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