Buying a short sale for personal residence

[Dan Ross]

My wife and I just submitted an offer on a house here in Spokane that is being offered as a short sale. This would be our first home. The homeowners have a medical hardship and the bank, Ocwen, owns the first and second mortgages. They feel Ocwen has been very fair to them up to this point.

The house is in decent shape except that it is dated and needs new paint, carpet, appliances and roof. We made an offer that is 22% below list price and Zillow. We feel this could be a good deal for everybody involved. Our agent and I put together a list of updates/improvements that need to be made in order to get it up to date. In addtion we have several good comps in the area we sent in with the offer.

We would probably live in the house for at least 5 years until we are in a position to build.

I am looking for any tips or advice on our situation.

-Has anybody here dealt with Ocwen? How did it go? How long did it take to hear back from them?

-Is there anything we can do to help speed up the process?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Dave P.]

We heard today from the selling agent that her contact at indymac said we would have an answer on Sept 22. If tey can assign a date why don't they just give us our answer now? What are they waiting on? Is it your experience that indymac usually counters on their short sale offers?

They can assign a date because they have regularly scheduled meetings where they review the files with the investor (the guys that physically own the loans). At these meetings, the investor will review their position and options, and make a decision on what to do.

These meetings are regularly scheduled. They can't give you an answer now, because they don't know what the ultimate decision maker will say.

I would feel confident that Indymac will at least counter your offer. However, ask the agent if the appraisal or BPO has been conducted yet.