We Tell it Like It Is

So, there are 3 types of ways homes can be sold: 1) Normal, standard sale 2) Pre-Foreclosure/Short Sale and 3) Foreclosed Bank-Owned property.

I have a super nice newlywed couple that would like to purchase their first home. We found a home listed at $215,000 in a nice suburban neighborhood where other homes are selling for $30,000+ more. It needs a lot of cosmetic work, but its on a great lot. Any improvements they make on the home will bring up the value right away. Its being sold as a pre-foreclosure/short sale--apparently, someone bought it a few yrs ago and got behind on their mortgage payments. They had 2 mortgages on it from 2 different banks and both banks told them they need to pay up asap, otherwise they'll foreclose. So, the only way the homeowners can cough up the $ is by selling the house. However, today's market is so horrible that they can't sell the house for the same amt. of $ that they owe the banks. So, they had to list it short of what they owe, hoping the banks will take what they can get and forgive them for the rest. So, we put an offer in and the seller's agent immediately submitted the offer to the banks because they have to be the ones to approve an offer since its a short sale. That was on March 25th. Today, June 22nd, we are STILL waiting to hear back from the banks on whether or not they will accept the offer or even counteroffer. We have been waiting nearly 3 mos. The banks around the country are SO overwhelmed with homes going into foreclosure that they can't keep up and offers on properties are stacked a mile high with one person going through them. It has been 3 mos. and they still haven't gotten to our offer yet. For those of you who thought pre-foreclosures are easy & cheap properties to buy, THINK AGAIN. I tried to submit an offer for another couple who are hoping to buy their first home to an agent who is listing a pre-foreclosure/short sale property.  This agent is so overwhelmed that I couldn't get him to return any of my calls or emails to just submit an offer. Pre-Foreclosures suck!!