All Forum Posts by: Sam Leon

The agent replied to our inquiry yesterday and said "Bank has not yet made a decision".

The MLS listing is still up (active and available). When we submitted the offer we had to go through a specific web site showing a list of properties with a "Submit" button. We had to submit our offer in PDFs via that web site. You can no longer "submit" new offers.

I am moving on to something else, just wanted a "NO" so I can move this off my desk to the dust collection pile LOL.

I am an engineer by trade so when I do a casual walk through I am already compiling a list of things to repair and I know what to watch out for. Normally down here standard inspection covers the standard stuff- structures, plumbing, electrical, appliances etc...and sometimes they would tag on a pest control which typically looks for termites in the attic and around the fascia on the exterior. Very few people would do mold inspections. I did it because I noticed a slight warp in the wall that wasn't there before (long story, but I looked at the house six months prior) and knew there could be a problem, so I ordered a $400 mold inspection. I doubt a layman would.

Made an offer on an REO home recently.

Bank came back within 72 hours asking BEST AND HIGHEST within 24 hours.

I adjusted my offer slightly and sent it in.

So far 2 weeks gone by and no news. The listing has disappeared from the web site where you had to submit offers to.

My agent had called and got the standard reply "the bank has all the offers but has not made a decision".

How long does it take the bank to make a decision? Doesn't it normally happen pretty quickly? In the past I pretty much know in 48 hours. In fact my offer had a 72 hour acceptance deadline which is now long gone.

I am guessing this means the bank is in negotiation with one of the buyers and are putting everyone else in a hold position?

@Will Barnard, regarding the comment about sending inspection results to the bank so they can't stick it to the next buyer...how would you do that?

I had a FNMA property that I discovered black mold during inspection, I wanted the bank to either drop the price by a written estimate of a mold remediation or have it taken care of themselves before closing. Even the listing agent said "WOW, we can't sell homes with black mold", but after conferring with FNMA they came back and said the price stays as is, take it or leave it. I said let me send you the mold inspection report and the estimates, may be you can send it to them, the agent said "no, don't, we don't need to see your results, FNMA has instructed us to inform you to either accept the contract or move on."

In fact, the pile of addendums I got from FNMA, has dozens of provisions everywhere that I had to sign to acknowledge that I KNOW THAT THEY DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ANYTHING, sounds like these provisions wipe out any sort of need or obligation of disclosure to buyers. I backed out of the deal but the next buyer walking in would be told they don't know anything about anything either.

I have a property with a mortgage of 30 YR FIX 6.25% with Seterus.

I asked Seterus to lower my rate, no luck.

Then I got with Quickens and did a HARP 2 refi with a 30 YR FIX 3.99%.

After 1 payment Quickens sold my loan to Seterus.

Why didn't Seterus just lower my rate?

In the last several short sale I was involved in, the commissions and other items were very clearly delineated in the contracts. In fact, the seller had their attorney drafted some boiler plate languages that they insisted buyers added to the contracts as pre-conditions. For example:

Commissions to be paid by lender, if lender refuses then buyer pick up the difference. Seller is to pay ZERO towards the closing.

Seller's obligation to close contingent upon lender accepting proceeds of the sale as final and full payment satisfaction of note and mortgage deed indebtedness with no further recourse of deficiency judgement against seller.

The lender is going want a net when they approve. I had one case where the contract took over six months to approve and the original contract had calculated property tax prorating between buyer and seller based on a 3 month window. I had to eat that in order to make the deal work.

Joel Owens thanks for the explanations. So someone set a wrong flag somewhere for it to pop up on Zillow as "active & available".

Steve Babiak, I haven't seen this property do don't know if I want it or not I was more curious why it was listed with no price seemed it was not really ready but in a staging area. I have seen this once before with another property.

Another thing that's really annoying about FNMA. When they counter you the first time, they sent back a whole bunch of REO addendums for me to fill out and sign, which basically nullifies every item in the FAR/BAR contract. What I didn't know, was that day was the "Acknowledgement Date", which was what all the subsequent events measured from.

So while I was still back and forth with them on prices, closing dates etc, the clock was ticking on the acknowledgement date, which I assumed (incorrectly) was the same as the "Effective Date". So once all the terms were agreed upon, and both parties signed, it was day 7 from their initial counter date - acknowledgement date. On their form I had 10 days from AD to perform inspection and cancel contractor. I read the REO addendum again and noticed the term, called my agent, who told me AD is same as ED...called my attorney, said same thing, don't worry AD is another term for ED. I pressed my agent to call listing agent, who had to go check with listing broker and came back to tell us, AD was 7 days ago, you have 3 days to inspect and decide.

Sent us on a big rush to hire the inspection, and it was a long weekend too.

I thought it was totally unreasonable to start the clock on the first time my offer was countered.

What does this mean?

For example, on Zillow, it shows this property was listed by bank on 12/21/2012 - but there is no price.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/723-W-Las-Olas-Blvd-Fort-Lauderdale-FL-33312/43203838_zpid/

However, if you press the "View Complete Details" button, it takes you to Wells Fargo where it listed an agent, but the status is "Coming Soon" and price TBD.

http://reo.wellsfargo.com/WBREODetails.aspx?INTCID=REO394324&page=Home&showreohome=true&dm=DMIZIREOL1

So, is this property for sale, or not?

If you go to http://reo.wellsfargo.com and do a search for properties in this city, this item won't come up.

Wayne, the way FNMA operates doesn't make sense. I wonder if it's more the individual asset manager or whether it's some sort of policy guiding them? Do the AM have much latitude in deciding?

I was asking them to either discount 10K (for mold remediation only, not for the repairs), or to handle the remediation themselves. That's all. Even the listing agent when I told them about the test results said "Oh we can't sell properties with black mold..." then they called my agent and said "NOPE, FNMA said they will do nothing, take it or leave it."

Oh and I was buying a townhouse in a development, where similar properties are all over, and at the time most recent sale for the same house on same street was 145K and 132K. It was the most frustrating experience, and throughout the whole process they changed AM on it three times.