We have an investor in this area who lowballs everything, sight seen or sight unseen. Some REO agents have even decided not to show his offers which I think is complete bunk. The investor's agent has thick skin and he'll take some verbal beatings since the offers are so consistently low. Yet, you see this guy also picking up property left and right and his agent is doing rather well.

In our market now, it is becoming more and more common to see sale prices at 10 to 20K below LP, especially on our HUD properties. It has happened to several of my listings as well. If an investor submits an offer, I don't care if it is low. More than likely it is just supporting the value that I've been giving the darn thing that hasn't moved since they listed it 10 or 20K above my BPO. Out of state investors are very common, I represent two myself and am not put off by the fact they haven't seen the property. They have a track record of following through.

Super:

I have had a lot of properties that I would have though "cash only" but a few have then been financed using rehab funding (such as the FHA 203k) or construction loans. That being said I don't know what you mean when you say you look at properties that only qualify for cash investors.

I also am a bit suprised when you say you won't put down earnest money without having a fully executed contract. I do many REO listings for companies as large as Fannie Mae and as small as a local bank and haven't found one yet that doesn't include having earnest money down. If it isn't part of the original offer it is a requirement of the counteroffer. Over 12 years, mostly REO for the last 10, and haven't seen a fully executed contract yet that didn't have an earnest money deposit first.

Mr. Foreclosure

That surprises me too. I haven't had an REO seller yet that didn't require the earnest money deposit to be included when we send the docs to them for their signatures. None of them have allowed it to be given when we got the signed docs BACK from them.

I think what he is trying to say is that during negotiations no earnest money is redeemed, as it shouldn't be until you have an agreed upon purchase price and docs are sent for signature. Could be wrong but that is how I read it. If anyone is asking to redeem earnest money before we finish negotiations, I advise against it.

It's extremely different as the potential buyers who have seen it have at least done a visual inspection of the property. There are too many blind-bidders who get offers accepted, visit the property, and then complain about what a piece of trash it is and that they then wasted their time. If a buyer has viewed a property prior to getting an accepted offer, the transaction is 1,000 times more likely to close than if the buyer has not viewed the property. Also, it's not a "might waste my time". It is a definite waste of my time.


Why did people ever consider hard money loans cash? It's not--it's a hard money LOAN. I've never understood this. It still has to go through somebody's underwriting, get appraisals, documentation, etc.


If I had a nickel for every time I had heard an investor say that, I wouldn't have to sell real estate anymore and could retire. Nothing against you, but I've heard this line over and over and over and over and....well, you get the picture. My experience is that less than 5% of these people actually close.

I think it is stress and overworked and more demands from the companies. On certain days, I am guilty. When I recognize and take 2 or 3 days off!!

Anybody, do you get the name of the Title Company if in offer you write earnest money to be delivered upon acceptance, but then leave blank who will hold the money? This is what I'm trying to get now instead of using another Title Company to only hold the money (while not too thrilled about it).

Who holds the earnest money varies by state.I have seen the buyer or listing broker hold in an escrow account,title company holds it sometimes,and here in Ga the closing attorney can hold it as well.

What I meant to say as far as the earnest money is I put upon written acceptance in the contract.Used to in my area people would find a property and write an earnes tmoney check that would immediately be deposited into an escrow account. Then when the seller didn't take the offer you had togo through ALOT of uneccessary time releasing the earnest money and doin it all over again.

So now if I write ten offers I don't do any earnest money until we get an accepted contract and then I will give the earnest money to listing broker.If they want me to write a check and photocopy it and send in with the contract that's fine.

Until you have an accepted offer in writing it makes no sense to give an actual earnestmoney check because the bank can at that point still accept other offers as it's considered verbal until they sign off on it.

I went to look at 12 more properties today. Some were dogs and some were actually pretty decent. Driving around Atlanta I am learning the really bad areas from the so,so ones. What I look for is cheap houses in a decent to good area. The ones in the bad areas where there is a drug dealer and hookers on every corner you can forget about those.

Atlanta has a few sections that are really rough. I saw a house today for 5k that I might pay 500 for the lot and tear down the house to build a new one there.

Sometimes these houses are so bad off you just need to demo and rebuild.I am going to rest tommorow as this morning I had my last mid-term martial arts test. So in November I will do my rank test to go to third degree black belt.

I require the full contract, addendums, proof of funds and copy of EM before submission of offer. I put this in the MLS. It's frustrating as the listing agent to have MY fax paper wasted with incomplete offers. Then I have to hold on to incomplete offers until the buyers' agent sends in everything. This is a waste of my time! Buyers' agents - READ THE MLS - FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS! YOU WILL SAVE YOURSELF AND YOUR BUYER TIME IN THE LONG RUN. If you or your buyer aren't serious enough to take the time to write a complete offer, don't be surprised if I'm snippy. You are wasting my time because then I have to call you and say, "Mr. Agent, Please submit proof of funds and have your buyer sign the addendums". Then I hear you moan and groan, blah, blah, blah..........

I even had an agent call me a couple weeks ago and say that he wanted to write an offer but didn't want to go through all that paperwork if it was going to get rejected. He said I should write it up and fax it to him the way I want it and then he would get buyers' signatures! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yeah, I'm serious. That's what he said. Wonder why REO listing agents are grumpy? That's why! We deal with a bunch of lazy buyers' agents and get sick of it.

I am required to submit a complete contract, proof of funds, copy of EM and addendums within 24 hours after acceptance. If I take an incomplete offer and the buyers' agent doesn't submit everything to me in a timely manner, guess who looks bad for not getting the contract to the bank in time? Yes - it's me.

Do your buyers, the listing agent and the REO agent a favor and submit COMPLETE offers according to the instructions. I don't care if your buyers offer 1 dollar! Just get me a complete contract for goodness sake! It's not that hard!

Amen Makin Money,
We're grumpy because we spend 80% of our day chasing signatures and initials because lazy buyer agents can't follow simple instructions. They ruin it for all of the good agents (like Super) who we know will get us the contract right the first time.

The other 20% of the day is spent answering phone calls where the buyer agents asks, "how long does this bank take to respond?", and "what's their bottom line" and my favorite... "will that one with the broken windows, lead paint, and mold, go FHA?" C-mon people!

I actually had an agent yesterday call and ask me to give him turn by turn directions to a property while he was driving because the address didn't come up on his GPS. My directions on the MLS sheet had only 3 turns from the interstate and was simple as heck to find, but he said he didn't have time to stop the car and read the directions. I asked him if he was joking, he said no....I hung up.

It's like the movie Groundhog Day, it's the same story every day

Yeah I guess I understand as I only do a few reo's with listing them and the calls you get are kind of wild from agents and the carlton sheets investors.Usually the calls I get is from a newbie investor or a new agent where a buyer they just started working with wants to look at foreclosures and they have no clue what they are doing but are desperate for there first or second closing as an agent.

I guess what I might start doing is just keep looking before submitting and narrow down the properties.That way I can reassure the listing broker and say YES I have seen it,I want it,here is the offer on your forms and if you can give me my price we have a deal.

The reo listing broker has alot of pull conveying the seriousness of the buyer. So I guess by narrowing it down I will limit my paper and will also see if I can scan it in and e-mail them my contract which will save on myfax fees.

One other thing that makes me grumpy - Agents who want you to call them whenever you get a new REO property.

Like I have an extra hour or two everyday to call agents to let give them a head's up that a new REO is in the MLS.

Learn how to set up an automatic search in the MLS - they show you how in the MLS class.

I just got 2 seperate potential buyers ask me how much the other offerers offered. Then give me a seriously hard time for not telling them exactly how much they need to beat the other
offers.
I mean I got admonished by a big time investor who contacted me direct saying 'if I want both sides of the commission' let's work together on this, and 'this is how the real world works'.
Apparently he's worked with other agents who played the game with him of telling him the number he needed to get to to get the property.

Also had a buyer agent flat out ask me how much are the other offers?

Wow, this newbie is learning how dirty this game of REOs can be.

I understand Pa Broker being frustrated with agents that have the capability to check MLS but want you to notifiy them by 'phone. I have that same problem when a listing is under contract and they want me to call them back if it fails. I simply tell them to track the MLS and if it goes back on the market the status will again show as active.

"I simply tell them to track the MLS and if it goes back on the market the status will again show as active."

Unfortuneately some dirty agents and brokers will resell if it falls out to there list to double end the commission. I have seen statuses not change in the mls for weeks and the mls just sends them an e-mail reminder slap on the wrist.

The problem is if it's already under contract and showing active you have just wasted everyone's time.

I have seen the good brokers are on top of everything and change the status right away.Unfortuneately you cannot count on the mls being accurate all the time in my area so you have to call.