Interested in writing an offer on one of our Real Estate Owned Properties (REO)? Here are a few things you need to know, do, and what you should expect.

Properties become Bank Owned after the foreclosure process is already complete. It is very similar to a standard sale between a buyer and a seller. The only difference is that the bank is the seller. Whomever buys the bank owned property from the bank receives a clean title free of lien's from the previous owner.  The buyer needs to inspect and verify all information regarding the property. Since the seller (the bank) did not live at the property they have limited disclosure knowledge and responsibilities under law.

Bank owned properties are great values. The banks price them aggressively to sell them quickly. They do not give the properties away or sell them for fifty cents on the dollar. If history is any indication, if you submit a low ball offer you most likely be rejected or countered back at full price.

Things to do prior to writing the offer:

1.  Review a copy of the banks Purchase Addendum
2.  Get Pre-Approved by the Bank that ownes the property Extremely important! All buyers submitting offers have to be Pre-approved by The Bank that owns the property. Most banks will automatically reject an offer without a Pre-approval from them or their choice of Lenders. Buyers are not locked in and may use any lender they prefer for the loan.
3.Offers must be accompanied by proof of liquid down payment funds, Submit proof of funds with offer. Black out any and all account #s and Social Security #'s prior to sending offer.

When writing the offer

1.  Do not fill out the addendum but put in the additional terms section of the offer (RPA-CA)"Buyer has review the Bank's Purchase Addendum".
2.  Put down Seller's choice of services such as escrow, termite, NHD, etc?
3.  Keep in mind a lot of terms in our California purchase agreement are superseded by the Banks Addendum
4.  Properties are sold in as-is condition and the inspection and contingency removal timeframes may be shorter than typical (refer to Bank's Addendum).

What to expect after the offer is submitted with pre-approval from seller choice of lenders and proof of funds.

1. Allow the bank up to 3 days to give you a response.
2. If it is a multiple offer situation be prepared to receive a counter asking you to submit you best and highet price and most seller favorable terms.

If your offer is accepted

1. you will receive disclosure, contracts, and addendum to be completed by the buyer.
2. Once all documents have been received back from the buyer they are sent to the seller for signatures. No deal is final untill seller has signed and returned a copy to all parties.
3. The seller will open escrow and inform us whom it is with.
4. Make arangments to get the deposit check to escrow and start inspections, appraisal, and loan process right away. Banks are not flexible on timeframes and contingencies are typically removed passively.