Great stuff. I am shopping for a foreclosure and have come upon some addendums where the banks insert the foll clause in their addendum during contract ratification to the effect of

“if the seller comes back and pays off the mortgage then
he can claim the house being foreclosed upon.”

Do they expect that the sellers will come back and claim the
property? Also recently read an article where in some states banks are foreclosing even without having any right to foreclose? This gets makes everything a real mess…

Anyone had such experiences or care to share if this is
something to look out for?

Thanks,

I loved the video on lowballing. I’ve gone around and around with buyers that say they refuse to pay full price for anything in this market because they want to get a deal! It takes a long time to educate them that “the deals” are priced incredibly well to begin with. I’ve gone so far as to tell a buyer that someone is going to make a full price offer for this home. Do you want it to be you or someone else? One of my favorite stats is the sales price as a percentage of list price. The next step with these buyers is to show them stats for homes that sold in the first 30 days on market. The average sales price is 105% of list price. Yep! Homes that sell in the first 30 on the market in Bend, OR are selling for more than list price! Now tell me you want to make a lowball offer.

Great blog and website. Found you through CJ Brasiels’ blog, in San Jose, CA. Really liked your video on low ball offers. Congratulations on the Inman award last August.

Those advertised auctions frequently don’t happen. They get postponed at the last second. So if a home is under contract, YES, the bank can still foreclosure, but oftentimes they will postpone it (but still advertise the sale, so they have the option to sell it).

Why not put a back up offer on it? With short sales, the kickout, or non kickout doesn’t matter. Oftentimes the bank hasn’t said yes, and until that time, you can pounce.

Frank

I have a question about foreclosures: I have seen a few short sales go under contract, and then I see the foreclosure sale publications for them in the newspaper. After the foreclosure sale, they’re still listed as being under contract. Since you have the best real estate site of all that I’ve seen (I like the map feature of redfin, but I use yours to get more detailed information, like on other homes that have sold in the area, and feel like I’m much more informed than I would otherwise be), I am wondering why your site doesn’t capture information about short sales that have fallen into the foreclosure hole. Would it make sense to do so?

Basically, today, my family drove by one of these under contract homes that was supposedly bid upon at the courthouse steps….so, why was the under contract sign still up on the lawn? Why is it listed as being under contract on franklymls? The courthouse sale took place two or three weeks ago. Won’t it be coming onto the market again as a foreclosure?

I’ll bet you’re chuckling, since I’m trying so hard to pounce on that discounted deal….btw, I also really learned a lot from that blog entry about looking for homes with kickout contracts — great stuff! Makes me spend more time at your web site!

Why is it ludicrous? Because inventory is down – WAY down – and there are about 30 to 40 percent of the homes on the market today as compared to 2007/2008. This includes For-Sale-By-Owner (FSBO) properties, foreclosures, short-sales and traditional resales – on and off the local MLS. Wherever you look, you’ll find fewer properties to choose from – period.

Some say “Educate them!” – that only works if they want to listen. Some buyers just need to find out on their own. Unfortunately, them finding out on their own often times means they’ve wasted their time and that of at least one, if not more, hard working and very capable agents in the process.

Kids don’t need their own individual bedrooms, or their own personal backyard, especially if there are great parks and walking trails nearby. No family of 5 or fewer people needs more than 2 bathrooms. Cars don’t have to be in a garage. These things aren’t needs, they are wants. If you want to buy a roof over your head because you think it’s a better long term financial plan than renting (for instance if it’s cheaper than renting already) then that financial security and flexibility is what you are buying. If you want to buy your housing wants, you need to be willing to pay for them.

If the buyer’s think that their dream house “should” only cost X, because someone with their salary “should” be able to afford it, and they honestly think the market is going to make that happen, then they should wait, and keep saving up a larger down-payment in the meantime, because if they’re saving up fast enough, then whether the market moves this way or that, eventually they will be able to afford that dream home, or they’ll get frustrated enough with the prices in this area to move to another city.