Staying focused on the prize is the key to working foreclosed properties and or short sales. Never let your emotions rule the day. Lenders are normally heavily bureaucratically laden and have a myriad of details to follow through. Hence the reason why Lender’s will go out of there way to work with a Homeowner rather than to foreclose and take the property back
In the case of the Victorian home in Mt. Tabor Portland Oregon for Dan, the Seller had chosen not to work it out with the Lender. They just wanted out and did not care what the consequences might be.
I was very fortunated in this case to be working with a Lender who’s department head was not on vacation or dashing out to some conference in Brazil. This individual was on top of her game. She was attentive and often new the current status of the inventory that she had to work with.
In the case of the Victorian home the seller had recently refinanced the home taking some of the equity out only 90 days previously to our offer. With out going into the gory details, suffice it to say he had spent all of the money ( can you say party on man ).
Armed with the knowledge of what the Lender would be interested in looking for should they decide to work with my buyer Dan, I set about by providing it.
- Dan hired a company to do a Full Home Inspection, We gave a copy to the Lender.
- From the Inspection Dan’s construction company gave a bid for the work.
- I also provided detailed bids from the sub-contractors that would be doing work.
- I created an accurate Market Analysis for the property, and sent it to the Lender.
- Provided open lines of communication between the Lender and my self always answering the phone when they called with questions.
The Lender reviewed all of the documentation given and requested an extension of time to do an appraisal review of the previous appraisal and to schedule to new appraisals.
The end results were that the Market analysis that I prepared were almost exactly the same conclussion drawn by the two independent appraisals done by the Lender.
The Lender subsequently accepted Dan’s offer some $60,000 below what they were owed. Closing took place only 45 days longer than anticipated.
Yes Short Sale’s and Foreclosures can be a Nightmare, but if you keep your head in the game and can work through the bureaucracy without becoming frustrated, there are opportunities to be had.