You killed it by changing the contract. If you came to me to write the offer and wanted to make changes I'd say thanks, but no thanks. I've sold enough REOs to know making changes doesn't fly.

Your attorney gets paid by the hour.They have to (FIND THINGS) to justify the fee.

AM's sometimes are handling over a hundred properties.Do you think they have time to deal with contract changes? If you won't take it AS-IS tons of other buyers are begging for the chance to.

As for not representing buyers if you are a listing broker you do not have to represent a buyer to do a deal.In Georgia I check I represent the seller and not the buyer and fill in the forms.Buyers usually don't care as long as they get their price on the offer.

For getting an offer accepted I am sure many brokers/agents give weight to double ending the commission.Many of these REO listers are small timers getting a few straggler REO's here and there.After the broker split and the Am's taking a fee I am sure motivation is high to double end it.

I use this strategy on some REO's when I bid and give them all the commission. It does make a difference sometime.I don't go by ethics and what should happen but about real world and what will improve my chances of landing the deal.

Something I just remembered that I did not put into the last post is that some of our AM companies reduce the sell side commission if we double side it. Another reason we send Buyer leads out.

Also, No Lawyer as ever been beaten up for a deal they killed. Only for the ones that they let happen that went badly after the fact.

We have some Asset Managers who have 500+ properties. Just take a deep breath and move on to the next one. There is a saying in Real Estate. "Better to know it is dead on Tuesday than Friday".

Move on to the next one and the best of luck to you. (with the current trend in RE with all of the factors that are in play you may get a much better deal bacause this one fell through.) "This or better".

I'm having some similar problems to JB and your comments have been extremely helpful. I can see it is mostly CYA. But here's my big worry:

The addendum states that the buyer should be aware that there is a possibility the prior owner might exercise right of redemption.

This troubles me -- what can I do? Am I at significant risk? I'm in NM.

Thanks in advance.

Also, a second question on the addendum. The listing agent says I have 24 hours. How strict is this? It would mean I would not even have the time to get an attorney to review it. But then, based on the comments above, that seems pointless.

Find out what the redemption period in your state - it will at least make you feel better - or not if it hasn't expired.