Did you know that the bank or servicer will own the property in this scenario?
Your real estate agent or broker will negotiate this purchase for the buyer between a bank employee instead of an owner/seller).

Paperwork/Rules for Offer Submission: Standard purchase and sale agreements are used as well as the banks’ own addendums and disclosures. Offers must be complete and filled out in accordance with the banks’ rules in order for the buyer’s offer to be considered. These offers are either delayed until corrected or rejected by the bank regardless of the price being offered. Any delay on a desirable property severely limits your chances of getting your offer accepted.

The bank orders an appraisal or a BROKR PRICE OPINION. Then at the time of foreclosure/listing they have the listing broker determine if that value is still valid. Most of the time the Bank is pricing near market and is expecting to transact the property close to the asking price. If you feel the asking price is well over market it is best for the buyer to perform your own market analysis (something your agent or broker can do) and provide that information to the listing broker along with the offer. Stories, letters, opinions etc that are not supported by facts are of no value and cannot be used by the listing agent to help your offer. Many times the listing agent is working within a system where all they do is go online and fill in a few boxes – price, loan type, down payment, close date, indicate if the earnest money is in cashier form or not and if there is a preapproval. The lender never has the opportunity to see additional paperwork nor do they care. But if the market analysis is done well, the listing broker might be able to use that to justify a lower price thereby making your offer acceptable.

Repairs: The Bank prefers not to make repairs so an “as-is” sale is best. If a few repairs need to be made to facilitate FHA or Conventional financing the Bank might be willing to accommodate that so it is certainly ok to ask for. It’s best for supporting bids for the repairs to accompany the offer so the Bank knows the buyer is not just making numbers up. Often times the house will be a fixer or in a condition such that traditional lenders will not lend on the property. In those cases, an all cash offer or possibly a construction loan are necessary to get the deal done. The bank does not like to consider FHA offers since many of these properties will not qualify, and the bank may prefer all cash offers.

Earnest Money: It will need to be in the form of a cashier’s check (not a note). Proof of funds for the down payment and loan approval for the balance will also need to accompany the offer.

Closing Date:  A short escrow closing is favorable. Many institutions are beginning to have penalties for closings that run beyond some date so make sure your lender can perform in that time frame. If there is any doubt you either need a different lender or need to have the lender agree to cover those late fees if they don’t perform timely.

 In all cases, the listing broker does not have any control over the response time no matter what timeframe you put in the offer for acceptance. The best approach is to ask the listing broker for an approximate length of time needed for response and use that in your offer. If the offer is for far less then the asking price do not be surprised if the response is an outright rejection. Banks are trying to maximize their returns and are not looking to give properties away. They are also usually unwilling to go through multiple counter offers and if they feel the potential buyer is trying to “steal” the deal they will not try to negotiate. If the offer is a solid offer (close to asking, few contingencies) it may get accepted without a counter.