How long until we hear SOMETHING? Does this sound common?

[Megan Harrington]

Hi there, 

My fiance & I submitted a contract on an REO property on May 25th 2016. The house has been on the market since 2013 (I believe it actually foreclosed end of 2012. I am working with a real estate agent (who is a friend). Asking price on house is $189,900 (previous owners foreclosed at $226k). "FMV" of home is between $229k-$240k), BUT. . . .the home is in dire need of repair. There's no kitchen at all, completely gutted. All doors, fans, & electrical outlets were taken, HVAC unit taken, electrical wires all cut at breaker box & stripped throughout most of house (there's even holes in the walls of rooms where vandalism was done to take wires from behind walls. Duct work also stolen from home. House sits on 2.5 private acres on Marylands eastern shore.

We submitted an offer of $205k with 3.5% seller concessions (closing help, a little over $7k) with a FHA 203K loan approval with up to $35k in repairs. So, we offered $15k over asking minus the $7k in closing help puts the bottom number at $198k, STILL $9k over asking price. No contingencies other than the inspection (to protect our $5k Earnest money deposit. We are currently renting and would like to move over the summer while our 3 children are on Summer break from school (the house is 15 mins from our rental now, and kids will need to switch schools)

At the time we submitted our offer, we were told 2 other offers are on the table already. Of course we wanted to beat those offers so asked where we needed to be. Listing agent told our agent we'd have to be at least $200k to beat highest offer (which are both in the $180-$190k range), so we put in at $205k w/3.5% closing help.

After hearing NOTHING for almost 2 weeks, the listing agent comes back & says "all offers are too low, so bank is requesting new appraisals & estimates for repairs as they are considering removing house from market, doing all repairs themself, then re-listing the home at a much higher price"

That was upsetting, we offered $15k ABOVE asking price and they say all offers are too low?? What the h***?? My thoughts at that time were "good! They NEED to send someone out again because I don't believe the bank even knows what the property condition is at this time, since there was vandalism done!"

Another week passed and we hear from listing agent again "new appraisals & estimates done. Will be resubmitting all offers to bank." That's it. And now NOTHING! No highest & best, no counter offer, no acceptance, NOTHING. My agent has emailed the listing agent for an update two times in the past 2 weeks with NO response at all. 

We have saved up a good amount of money as a down payment on a house ($60+) but can't even use that money for renovations because with FHA 203K loan, all reno costs must be borrowed, ugh. Closing costs will be around $21k-$22k, we can cover that even without seller concessions but it'd be nice to get a little help (we are also 1st time home buyers but that will not help us with the loan we must use). To my knowledge, no other contracts have been submitted beyond the 3 offers (including ours).

Should we just wait it out? Should we revise our offer and take out the 3.5% closing help? Should we ask for a deadline? My agent just says wait. . . .but we're almost 1 month in already! We've continued to look at other properties but inventory is scarce, especially for what we are looking for (4+ bedrooms, open layout, big kitchen, 2+ car garage, and as much land as we can get! We even considered southern York county PA, where home prices are excellent BUT property taxes are unreal! $7k, $8k, $9k+ in property & school taxes yearly is not something I'm willing to pay (tax breaks are given if at 10 acres more, but those are hard to find). I'm growing more & more impatient every week and I use feel like something is up with the bank or agent. Is this a typical time period for an REO?

This is stressing me out! We are supposed to be planning a vacation the first 2 weeks in July but I can't plan anything until I hear something about this house! Because once we get acceptance (if we do), we'll be on a time restraint of 30 days to get all our inspections done and get all estimates submitted to lender! I'm being held hostage! 

Any advice is greatly appreciated!