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?

[Patrick Henderson]

First off, A bank in a short sale situation is in control and will dick you around at every corner. They have lied, acted in, what I consider bad faith with me and there is no one person that makes the decision. not to mention the fact that they don't keep notes on previous conversations you've had with them in many if not most cases .I highly reccomend NOT putting money into something that you don't own. You may never get the bank to agree to your price.