Originally Posted At www.bigbearilluminated.com
Like most Realtors today, I have been dealing with quite a few bank owned properties. Like conventional listings, they come in all shapes, sizes, and conditions. Some banks price them to move, others not so much. For every REO I see that is a great buy, I see another that is only so so. Some banks respond to an offer right away, some take a long time. Some banks will negotiate with other, while others will not budge.
For instance, a few weeks ago I had some clients who made an offer on a bank owned home in Erwin Lake. The home was priced at $126,000 and was in decent condition. Like everyone else, my clients were after the best deal they could get. In that spirit, we put in an offer of $100,000. I didn't expect the bank to accept it, but I thought their counter would give us a good indicator of how low they were willing to go. When we received the counter offer, I was a little surprised to see the bank had not moved an inch. Surprised in the fact that this home has been on the market for quite some time and it seems rational that they would at least move a little in order to get it off of their books. Not the case.
Believe it or not, I have encountered this same scenario several times. Contrary to what is being reported in the media, getting a ridiculously low price on a bank owned property is not a sure thing. As a matter of fact, in Big Bear there is only a 5% difference between listing and selling price on REO's. If a bank owned property is priced well, it will usually garner multiple offers and actually sell for above listing price. If your Realtor tells you that something is a great buy, bickering may only serve to cost you the deal. Now if I can only get my clients to listen to me:)
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