This is my first time buying a home. We have looked at several and fell in love with the very first one we looked at. My realtor unfortunetly is not very informative about it. Its a forecloser and she said she's never dealt with them. The asking price of the house is $59,900 and we just found out theres several bids on it. My question is, how can we garauntee ourselves to get this house? Do we need to offer more than the asking price? I know most people usually offer less but we really want this and are willing to put WAY more into it than what there asking for. I told our realtor to help us with the bidding but we're not getting any information back on it quick enough (24hrs or so)Please help, we really want this house BAD!!!!!
Thanks

There is no guarantee when it comes to foreclosures. If one of the other offers is for cash you have probably already lost the house.

To increase your chances of winning in a bidding situation the first thing you should do is fill out the loan application and have your lender process the loan. This way you will have loan approval when you make your offer. Loan approval is way better than getting pre-qualified and might make your offer stronger, though not stronger than cash.

Also, when dealing with foreclosures, try not to fall in love with any of them. You might have to bid on a few before you get one so don't get emotionally attached.

If you are not pre approved, you need to be ASAP. You cannot even submit the offer with a pre approval. Going to a direct lender may give you an edge. As Bigtoe said, don't get emotionally attached.

But I disagree that you can't get the house over a cash offer. For example - if you offer $70,000 and the cash guy offers $60,000, any bank I deal with would likley take your offer over the cash. They are all have their own guidelines but thats my experience.

Offer as much as you feel comfortable and with the best terms you can (can you waive home inspection? etc....) Then it's just a waiting game....

I beleive if price was equal or a few k off the bank would take a proof of funds cash deal rather than a MAYBE with financing. It just depends on how big the spread is between the cash offer and the finance offers. If you are in multiple bid the first thing you need to do is have your agent determine market value for today's market.

Example if it's 89,900 then if th easking is 59,900 you could go up to 69,900 and it should appraise most likley no problem for loan purposes.

You also have to know the condition of the property. Yur loan might require the property to be in a certain condition and the bank does not want to do repairs,etc.

If your agent hasn't worked on an REO sale before talk to their broker and explain you want them to help your agent so that the sale doesn't get messed up.

Lately we have been running into issues with underwriting on mortgages for REO's. Unless the property is in very good condition, and everything works, they may require multiple visits by the appraiser to verify certain things.

If the property was not winterized after vacancy (and sometimes you don't know for sure) the LA may not have had the water service activated, and I have been told by multiple loan officers that confirming that the plumbing actually works is now part of a Fannie and Freddie appraisal. Same with electrical, heat and central A/C.

I've had a couple lately in which the bank seller accepted a lower cash offer rather than gamble that the property would meet the underwriting standards of the lender.

What Realtor had never dealt with a foreclosure in this market?!?!

Get a new agent to help you. You probably won't get that house if there are offers into the bank already, especially if you're not even approved with a lender yet.

Go to my site and you could find 90% of what you need to know by reading my blog articles about first time home buying.

(click the links in my signature below)

Thank you so much to all of you. All this info helps alot. The house is in pending now and has been for 2 days. Probably lost but have found a couple more we're looking into.

Not all markets are experiencing the foreclosure problems to the same extent. There are very few foreclosures in my market compared to non-distressed sales. Probably half of the agents here have never dealt with a foreclosure.