This post relates to a bank-owned listing that I had followed for quite some time on the public MLS. Then one day the listing just disappeared. And absent the usual "under contract" note in the online listing form, I wondered what had happened? Actually, the property was still listed on foreclosure.com as "active, make an offer." I was confused.

So, I called the agent and was informed that the listing was "off the market." That is a direct quote. I asked what that meant, exactly, and the agent told me that the bank had pulled the listing. Not for sale. Not under contract. I explained that I had been wanting to view the property for some time but that work/life had kept me rather busy. While this property is about an hour from my house, I told the agent (who lives and works primarily in my town) that I knew quite a few people in this particular town and had always thought it charming. I explained the context for my serious interest, etc. The agent was polite but made no offer to even alert me to a change in listing or contract status, etc.! She just thanked me and terminated the conversation. I thought that a bit strange, but I knew I'd be following the MLS daily, so no big deal.

Fast forward about 10 days...and I'm doing my usual morning MLS search. Imagine my surprise when this very listing popped up on my screen with an "under contract" notation! I nearly spilled my coffee! Well, needless to say, I couldn't pick my phone up quickly enough. I called the agent and left a message which went something like this: "Hello. I just noticed that listing we talked about 10 days ago or so has just been re-listed and is already under contract?? Is that correct? Actually, I look for this listing (and others) daily on MLS, so I'm not sure about the who, what, when, or how, but it would appear that the home was re-listed and sold almost instantaneously? In less than one day? Is this correct? Please call me to discuss. Thanks...."

The agent called while I was in a meeting and left a voicemail for me: "Hello. This listing is under contract, correct. The bank decided to move on an offer which had been made some time ago. I was not aware of their intent to deal with this prior offer until they notified me the other day that they wanted to move on it. The property was only re-listed to reflect the contract status. Thanks for your interest."

Sorry about the long-winded nature of this post, but I wanted to give a narrative for context. Anyway, I'm just feeling a bit...put-off. And I'm wondering if I should have been---in the interest of the bank's shareholders and in the interest of consumers---at least allowed the opportunity to view the property and to make an offer when I first called the agent...or subsequent to the bank having informed the agent of their intent, might/should the agent have notified the bank about another interested party? How do we know if I would have offered more than the buyer offered? And how do I know if this agent's friend, cousin...or the agent herself was trying to block incoming offers to get the deal/steal for herself...or even what other legitimate set of circumstances could have explained this course of events as I have described?

I hate to think that there was anything unethical or strange going on behind the scenes, but I mean, when the agent tells you that a bank-owned property is "off the market," what else could I have done?

Any thoughts, concerns, lessons learned...would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!

Is the listing agent the selling agent too??

Good question. I'm not sure. She didn't say if she brought in the contract or if another agent did.

A couple of possibilities here -- Lots of properties were pulled from the market when the whole "robosigning" mess became public in October. I had 3 put on hold until it is resolved. There may have been an offer submitted that sat in a file until the bank determined it could sell it.

Or, there might have been environmental or title issues - happens often - that have to be resolved before they can proceed with a sale.

By the way, calling foreclosure.com the MLS is like calling the local interstate a highway administration. These consumer appealing foreclosure websites are notoriously inaccurate with dated information that is often updated weeks or even months late. They still list properties that I have listed as active that closed a long time ago.

Thanks, PA Roadkill. I think it was probably just an old contract which the bank suddenly acknowledged. BTW, when I say MLS, I really mean MLS. Foreclosure.com is but a tertiary resource, not my "MLS." :)

How were you denied opportunity to view/make an offer? You were interested in the property "for quite some time", but did not act on it because you were too busy.

LOL. I won't even respond to that. How silly.

No, this is about lazy agents, lazy banks. Whatever. Neither the bank shareholders nor the consumer is served well by such a laissez-faire, relaxed attitude. I guess it's not their money, so who cares, right?

Oh, and I think you only read the first few sentences. The point is that I was told the house was off the market, no contract, no sale. I was, therefore, not able to view the property to see if I wanted to make an offer. And then within 2 weeks, the house was re-listed and sold within 1 second. Heh. The agent admits that there was an inactive contract which the bank purportedly acted on without notice and without asking for additional listing time or other bids. Apparently there was a contract afterall, eh? I don't really understand why she just didn't tell me that was the situation when I first called. That there was a contract to which the bank never responded and then removed the listing (for some reason).

How is the agent lazy, or the seller? They had a property to sell, they accepted on offer on it. Isn't that the point to listing a property?

On bank-owneds, there are often multiple offers in all stages of negotiations. The agent cannot disclose any of this to you, without her client's permission. Chances are, she did not even know the seller was considering the formerly submitted offer. Bank sellers do not consult/inform their agents of much-they just email instructions to them.

An offer exists when a buyer submits a written offer to purchase a property. A contract exists when both parties have agreed to all terms and signed off on them. What is an "inactive contract"?

A seller puts a property on the market. A buyer submits an offer. The seller finds it acceptable and agrees to it. Unless it is an auction property, the seller does not notify everyone else-"We have an offer we like, is any one going to top it? Does anyone need more time to view the property to decide if they MAY want to put in an offer, also?" The seller just accepts the offer in front of them. That is simply how it works.

Let see, the property was listed on at least 2 different real estate sites for some time. You chose not to make an offer, during that time. When the property was no longer available, you became "serious" interested. The bank and agent did their jobs. They advertised the property and acted on an offer that was presented. It appears that the listing was taken off market by the bank at that point. You came in after the deal was over.

There is one person to blame for you not getting to present an offer. Go to a mirror and ask the person you see why you didn't act on a that property. Then file the response under lessons learned.

As a listing agent for multiple banks, I can tell you that it is not unusual for the bank to change their mind and decide to counter to a previous offer. Properties go off the market for various reasons including foreclosure document issues and then they return with a possible counter to the prior offer.
Banks have no obligation to consider additonal offers, take new offers or consider anything you have to offer.
Sounds like you should have offered sooner for consideration.

Carolinacharms;
I realize your frustration with this and as such won't "beat up" on you or place blame. Rather I'll try and explain a possible scenario. PA laid it out quite well. With the robo-signing issue, and a few other lesser known issues, I had about 40 listing, prelistings and under contract properties suspended. Many of the listed properties had offers in negotiation when the property was withdrawn. A few have been released back on the market and have had the previous offers accepted almost immediately. Could the bank have made more money by reopening the offer process?
Lets do some math here: Fannie Mae forecloses on 30,000 houses a month (3rd quarter stats). Their carrying costs are about 1% of the loan value. Let's further factor a loan value of 200,000. That's $2,000 per month or $500 per week. Multiplied by 30,000 equals 15 million per week. If they can move their properties 1 week sooner by accepting a previous offer that's a ton on tax payer or stock holder funds. Hence the tendency to move quickly. Agreed I've rounded off numbers, but it's still substantial.
In addition some of these older offers may have already moved beyond the home inspection stage of the process. Thus another week and another 15 million.
Again, I do understand your frustration, but unfortunately, it's all about the money and not necessarily any untoward actions by the agent. Perhaps the agent may have allayed your concerns by outlining some of what I've written here, that's how I handle it, but that's a function of how much time an agent has multiplied by dozens of calls a day.
Hope this helps.

My advice at this point is to find an agent to work with. They can help you access a property and explain what is going on with your market. The listing agent works for the seller and will work for their best interest. I hope this will not become "the one that got away" since you never saw the condition of the home. There is also a possibility of becoming a back-up offer if the current contract falls through. Was this in Virginia?

My guess is the potential buyer was waiting for a price drop before acting.

So is many of the other buyers.When I hits a good deal point in reductions multiple offers come forth.

Sometimes the bank wants to accept an offer but can't until a new bpo or appraisal comes back with a lower value.

The asset manager doesn't care about another offer.They know they have an already existing buyer qualified to get the file off of their desk.

I love these type of posts. It's a "It's not fair that I couldn't buy this property post."

Just move on to another property.No complaining will make this property yours.

When agents decide which buyer(s) to spend their time on, often times the agents decision is based on how motivated the buyer is to buy and will spending time with that person (on the phone or in person) lead to a payday?

[b]Have the potential buyer shown buying signs: [/b]

* Have they met with a mortgage broker to get pre-qualified?
* Have they called to schedule a time look at homes?
* Are they willing to look at several similar homes (shop for just the right home, not just the one they saw on the internet).
* Have they said when they will buy?
* Are they going to buy now, a year from now, or ?
* Do they have a home they need to sell first or a lease they need to finish?

If "buyer" calls on a home, but doesn't or hasn't made any other efforts toward buying, then that buyer might be classified as potential, but not current buyer. An agent won't spend much time talking to or assisting that potential buyer, because that person usually don't lead to a payday. Current (real) buyers take action, and have goals and time lines. These (real) buyers get a new home (or foreclosure) and the agent gets paid for their time.

As Yoda might say: "Buy or no buy, there is no try".

PA Roadkill, Neal, and JackREO have summed up the scenario very well. I am an REO agent and I have an additional point. Every asset manager in charge of HELD properties also has more properties piling up while trying to clear out the HELDs. When HELD properties are cleared to go on market (and, especially, those that were on market and are now ready to go BACK on), they get pushed out the door by the backlog behind them.

Carolinacharms, you say that you check the MLS every day. Are you an agent? If not, your info from MLS may not be as current as you believe it to be. In my area, for instance, a new listing first hits MLS as "Temporary." Though agents see the temporaries, the listings do not spin out to consumer websites until they go active. During that "hang time," a previously-listed property could have attracted the attention of an agent with a ready, willing, and able client who had already viewed the property (you weren't really ready, willing and able, anyway, were you?)

The "hang time" effect also applies when a property goes under contract. The paperwork is done, MLS is notified, and the info then populates to assorted consumer websites in varying timeframes, depending on when the processing makes its way through all of the channels. That processing, spin out, time can take from a day to a week or more--but it is NOT instant.

Only an agent has access to "real time" info in MLS.

Another good point Lizl.
More good news. I just had a ton of the previous held properties that were under contract (extended) released to close. The next week should be hell if cash flow is ever considered hell.

Happy holidays, then, JackREO!

Were they GMAC's and BOA's? We still have 20 on hold..please tell me yes..

So true about MSL listings not being current or always accurate. Visit multiple RE websites and you will get different info. One local RE website still has listings that sold months ago as active!

Best thing to do in this dog eat dog world is, if you see a property you really like, call today!

The agent works for his or her client (which in this case is the bank). If the bank decided to pull the listing and then move on another offer previously made, that is their right.

Think of it this way... If you were selling your property, would your agent have an obligation to you or to a potential buyer that has been watching the property being openly marketed for some time on the MLS?

Potential buyers sometimes confuse the bank's actions as the action of the listing agent. As an REO listing agent, we are obligated to follow lawful requests from our sellers.

Best of luck in your home search!!