Making an Offer on a Short Sale

[Brad G.]

I am the process of making an offer on a short sale, and I am running into some issues. First of all, our real esate buyers agent is recommending that I put in a hard date of 3/5/14 for inspections and 5/1/14 for mortgage committment even though we have no clue when and if the bank will accept the offer (could be June or later). When I asked if we could make those dates a certain number of days after acceptance, he said putting in specific dates is standard. He also recommended not putting a date when the offer would expire. In addition, he initially had us sign a binder and now the bank is requiring a Purchase to Sale Agreement.

I sent the draft Purchase Agreement to my attorney. He is still reviewing but his initial reaction is that he did not it made sense to spend money on a home inspector without the bank accepting the offer. Both my attorney and mortgage broker recommended having the inspection and mortgage committment a fixed number of days AFTER the bank accepts.

I am starting to wonder if our buyers agent knows what he is doing since he does not seem to be putting me in a good position.

This is discouraging for a relatively new investor (this will be the first home I will buy that I do not live in).

What does the Bigger Pockets community recommend for listing inspection and mortgage committment dates? Should everything be after offer acceptance?