I am a first time home buyer and put an offer on a short sale over 5 weeks ago. We still haven't heard anything and don't believe the sellers agent is being honest with us. Any suggestions?

quote:

Originally posted by shicksoe:
We still haven't heard anything and don't believe the sellers agent is being honest with us.

What, exactly, do you feel the seller's agent is being dishonest about?

Was the home originally listed with a price under its mortgage principle? Did you negotiate with the seller over price, which took it under the mortgage principle?

If the seller has to negoiate with the bank it can take weeks.My son went through this in '03 when the Ohio job market crashed.

The problem with shortsales in that the primary lender may agree but the secondary will not as many times there is nothing left for them from the sale.

This is a link to blog entry on a short sale that ultimately failed after 10 months and why. very interesting.The short sale that wasn't

Also, an update from this thread

The house we offered 275K on that was rejected is now down to 199k for a month now and no bites. The agent called me last week to see if we were still interested. Where there were 12 vintage homes for sale last year, there are now 85. Over half are REOs.

So why bother with a S/S since almost never work and you'll just get a better deal later when it goes REO?

Here is a very informative Realtor blogger's explanation of why banks sometimes drag their feet on short sales:

http://activerain.com/blogs/franklyrealty

My current house was a "short sale", but until now I never gave it much thought.

I offered what the house was worth at the time. It happen to be a little bit less than the builder's bank loan balance for the place. We had no problem with his bank quickly agreeing. I guess the alternative was that this builder would go bankrupt (he was on the edge at the time), and I am sure that would end up costing the bank even more (in both money and time).

In your case, a short sale on that house might be better for the bank, than the possibility of dealing with a foreclosure.

If the asking price is now 199k, offer like 189K, and see what happens. Of course, put a reasonable time limit on their response; possibly one week.

We put an offer in on a short sale, the owner's realtor kept telling us the bank will make a decision and every week they did not. After waiting 7 weeks, we saw the home had increased $30,000 in price. The owner’s realtor contacted our realtor and told her about this. But our realtor left me messages but never told me we had lost the house. We are very upset at everything. We are looking into renting now. We sent over the cancellation of contract form today, once we receive our money back from Escrow, we will fire our realtor and rent until we can find a place we love.

This is wierd. Was the listing Realtor depending on the seller to contact and arrange the short sale?. Was not the listing Realtor in direct contact with the lender as well with the negotiations? Seems like a lot of unanswered questions or maybe your Realtor didn't ask enough questions!

It doesn't make sense that once it was a short sale and now its not, unless the seller came up with back payments.

Why would they increase the price - did you Realtor ask that question or was it sold to someone else? I would get to the bottom of this and ask your Realtor to arrange a meeting with you and the listing Realtor. He --l call the broker if you have too.

I just did another short sale. We kept pressure on the listing agent calling him everyday. He too said day after day no word yet. Then this department of the lender approved, now another department has to approve..and on and on. We closed in 30 days. Pressure had a lot to do with it.

Regardless, I would want to know some answers.
Maybe there is a chance.. still you could get the home.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: real estate lady,

Thanks for your advice guys! We finally got put on a conference call with the seller's agent and the negoitator for the bank last Wednesday and they promised they would have a counter the next day. Now it's a week later, we've heard nothing, and no one will answer my phone calls or e-mails. We're both teachers/coaches so we don't have a ton of time to spend looking and I have to move in 3 weeks. Who should I try to call?

quote:

Originally posted by shicksoe:
Who should I try to call?

Call the seller's agent. You are the seller's (and their agent's) customer.

You are really nobody to the bank. Let the bank's customer (the seller or the seller's agent) call the bank.

Just make it clear that your offer will soon expire.

I have. I call and e-mail her everyday, along with the lady handling the case at the bank. I talked to the seller's agent's boss today and she is supposed to be contacting the agent to see what is going on. I've also left messages with the seller and they haven't responded either.

The only message I would then be leaving, is that I am picking up my deposit check at 5:59pm today. Please make sure it is ready.

If time is of the essence----Go find a vacant home you like-seller are usually very motivated..... Vacant homes can denote a seller may be making two mortgage Can have quick closing if you lender gets you through fast - agent can even possibly arrange move in before closing.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: real estate lady,