REO not listed

[Tanya Bass]

I've found a property that I may be interested in. It's gone to foreclosure and is now REO. It's not listed anywhere right now. Is there anyway for me to talk to the bank about it or do I have to wait for it to be listed somewhere?

[Mark Elliott]

hi tanya. once a bank forecloses, they will list the property soon. some go thru the auction sites such as hubzu or auction.com, and some will use a local listing agent. i would call the bank and find out what their intentions are. i am sure they plan to list it. some banks have done what i like to call dropping the mortgage. several years ago, the government decided to put a limit on the number of foreclosures that a bank could list for sale per year. the concern was that the flooding of the market would cause the values to drop. consequently, the banks were left to decide which houses they could list for sale or auction and which ones they couldn't. the ones that made the cut were sold, the ones that didn't, well, they had to sit and rack up holding costs. so, the banks started writing off the loans of the ones that they were just never going to see a dime out of anyway. that puts it right back into the hands of the owner that they foreclosed on. this house could be one of those, but usually, the bank will not go thru the entire foreclosure process on a house they do not plan to keep, so i doubt this one is that sort of deal. the best thing you can do is call the bank and ask what their plans for this house is. you might be able to work yourself a short sale.