Bank Owned Offers ... Ughhh!

Working with the Listing agent to find out what is going on is the key, Banks do move at their own speed and by their own rules.

patience is the key although most counters that you sign say it is not in effect until you get the signed counter in hand so you don't have a contract until everything is signed.

the banks i work with get everything signed within 24-48 hours.

"One thing that worked for me once was to show up at the bank at the beginning of a work day 

this is from a earlier comment, in my area the homes are not listed by the bank but through real estate companies, there is a agency relationship in place and i would respectfully suggest not going around the agency relationship, remember that in talking with the Asset manager directly you are talking to the seller without going through the agent which in my area is grounds for a conversation with the Department of real Estate.

 I always talk the buyers agent through the process, let them know what to expect, how the banks work. My goal is to get the property sold.

Good luck.  Real Estate is an emotional thing for many.  This helps the "motivation" and thus the reaction and response time.   When you replace "emotional human sellers" with a guy at a bank that has dozens of files on his desk - there is little motivation.

I always warn my buyers about bank owned (after a couple deals that drove me nuts!).   GOOD LUCK !

I would have to disagree on the motivation of the banks to sell, I currently deal with over 10 different banks here in Phoenix metro area and my response to a offer is usually within the same day and almost always within 1 business day.

Many times that a offer takes a long time to be responded to is that the offer is too low, that the buyer is trying to steal it or the buyers agents don't take the time to ask the listing agent about the process.

 As a example.

I currently have a home listed that is listed at $335000, an agent submitted a offer at $299000 and asked for over $10000 in seller concessions, now she is on the phone to me, sending me emails about why her offer is sooooooooooooo reasonable and that the bank needs to give it to her clients, by the way this home is 30K below comps at list price, is not falling down, is all but move in ready and has been on the market for a week. why should the seller rush to respond to this.

Lisa,

A few ideas- Does the listing agent have anything other than a verbal that the offer was accepted, like an email or fax?  We just had one close last week that we did not receive the signed repc until the day of the closing.  The banks are all getting further and further behind and the listing agent should be able to give you a good feel for what this particular lender normally does.  Also, in regards to earnest money, in Oregon we are able to check a box on the repc that states that until we have a written acceptance by the sellers, that the earnest money will be held by the buyers agent.  If that is not available in your state, I would recommend making that part of the written offer to the bank to put your buyers more at ease.  Hope that helps.

This is a funny trick I heard from a real estate investor who was actually dealing with a short sale, but he needed some ACTION from the bank.  He started sending a fax to the bank over and over and over, every minute, for over an hour.  FINALLY, the bank called him and said "stop sending us faxes!"  He apologized and said that his fax machine must have broken and sent them a fax over and over...but while they were on the phone, would they be able to give him an update on his short sale?  :)

Great job Lisa. Persistence can pay.

Funny story Tiffany. I hope I never have to resort to the broken fax tactic.