short sale - cash purchase help

[Sarah Jones]

1. i am trying to buy a house and was wondering do i have to pay the buyer agent or does the buyer agent take money from the bank (this is a short sale)

2. does the seller agent get paid from the bank?

3. the listing price of the short sale was $175 it says pending lender approval .. what does pending lender approval mean? Do you think i should offer $165 cash? 10k less than the pending price.. they told me that even if i offer 175 i still have to wait 20 days for their decision, its a short sale i dont understand why i have to wait 20 days..

4. if i was doing an all cash purchase of $175 and i have no loan how much do u think i actually pay when everything is all done with...(title, insurance, etc... tax.. how much do i really need in cash if i want to make a $175k payment)

5. if i dont get a buyer agent what am i saving..?

6. this house was partially burnt in the front it doesnt show up on title 'YET' thats what my buyer agent says but it will probably show up on the prelimiary .. but the insurance comapny fixed everything.. should i be concerned about something? if i try to sell the house is it going to be a problem if the house was already fixed?

[Jon Holdman]

Not sure what you mean by an "offer letter". If you're making offers through agents on properties listed on the MLS, you'll end up using the official real estate board contract.

Short sales take forever to even get a response. Write your offers with a fairly short acceptance deadline, say a week or so. That way your offer is in the process, but after a week, its no longer a mandatory contract. If the bank accepts or counters after a few weeks or months, then you're not obligated to buy. But, if you're still interested, you can move ahead.

I'm confused, though, on what you're trying to do. Are you trying to buy a house to live in? Investment property? Wholesaling? It would help if you could clarify your intentions.

It sounds like you've never bought a house before. If you're trying to buy off the MLS, I strongly recommend you find a buyers agent. If you're looking for a house to live in, this is pretty easy. If you're looking for investment property, its trickier because most agents aren't used to dealing with investors. If you're trying to wholesale, its trickier still because you're really competing with agents, and most of them don't understand wholesaling. Many of the ones that do don't like it and won't be very willing to work with you.

You're almost always going to have an inspection contingency in the offer. So, even if an offer is accepted, you can almost always find something you don't like during inspection and use that to bail out of the contract.