Made an Offer on an REO - What's Next?

[Harry Metzinger]

Hi BP, excited to say I made my first offer as an educated real estate investor today on a Freddie Mac REO property. I emphasize the "educated" part b/c I made an offer on an investment property 14 months ago...and then realized I had no idea what I was walking into. Thankfully that offer (it was on a short sale) was not accepted in the contract period and I was able to get out. Long story short, after realizing how little I knew about real estate investing, I found my local REIA, and through that found out about BiggerPockets, and now I am MUCH more prepared to enter the world of real estate investing.

I am a real estate agent so I submitted my offer directly to the seller's agent this morning. I did not hear anything from the agent today, not even an acknowledgement that he received my offer. My Proposal to Purchase is good for 15 days (which was recommended in a recent BP Blog post). Therefore, I was not expecting an answer today or even tomorrow. However, for those of you who have made offers on Freddie Mac REO properties, I am curious at what point do you think I should follow up, if at all. Also, if the lender counters my offer, how would you respond? More specifically, I am curious if/how the timeliness of the Freddie Mac's response and the amount of the counteroffer in relation to your offer influences your response to their counteroffer.

Thanks for your advice.