All Forum Posts by: Matt Overbee

@Marci Stein 

I forgot to mention to make sure to have your attorney review the contract prior to signing it and sending it to the seller. And I think you only get like 48 hrs if I remember correctly.

There are no contingencies in their REO contracts, this includes financing and inspection contigencies. That's what I mean by a more difficult transaction than most.

@Steve Garner 

Sorry Steve, I don't have much experience buying Short Sales from them, that's a slightly different animal, especially if there's a 2nd lien holder involved. That just adds more complexity into an already difficult process that Hubzu has.

@Marci Stein 

You're welcome. Ocwen is a mortgage servicer, I believe Hubzu used to be a subsidiary business of Ocwen and was spunoff or something like that. Long story short, Ocwen basically sells all of it's REO's it forecloses on through Hubzu and their auction platform, instead of just selling them as a basic REO on an MLS like most banks. For those REO auctions they will sell with clear title and resolve liens prior to closing.

The reason I would still say it depends on the seller (and the attorney should confirm that in the contract), is because Hubzu is trying to branch out and become a selling platform for others as well, so every auction on there may not be by Ocwen and may have slightly different terms. 

Seems like most REOs they are selling today are by Ocwen though. I think they are struggling getting others to use them to sell property since they have quite a bad reputation. It is a much more difficult transaction than your standard REO purchase off the MLS.

Hi @Marci Stein 

They will generally issue marketable/clear title at closing for the REO's that they sell for Ocwen, but there might be liens on the property prior to closing. I just closed on my house with them in October that was an REO, and there was a $2500 water bill lien we found that they had to clear.

This all depends on the seller and contract though, so make sure you have a good attorney and I would pay the extra money at closing to choose your own closing company. I've read about many horror stories by some who used Hubzu's closing company since they offer it as a cost savings, and those people reported having a lot of difficulty working with the overseas representatives that will then handle that closing.

Yeah search the forums I gave some info on my recent experience with them on a purchase last month on someone else's post.

Feel free to ask me any questions about it.

@NA Jones 

No, they never show what the reserve price is. If you win an auction, and the bid is less than the reserve they will send you a counter offer usually after it's over, which will basically give you an idea of where they are. 

Yep, I think it's 3% EM generally.

I just closed on one last week as well. That's correct, I received a 3% buyer commission since I'm licensed and represented myself as the buyers agent.

I toyed around with them for 3 months on the one I bought. I agree with @Rusty Thompson. If no one is bidding, then I wouldn't bid either, then they will reduce the starting bid. However it seemed like they would only lower the reserve price that they counter with after 2-4 weeks of not getting a contract. It's very robotic and automated like he said.

I had to outbid people a few times, but just kept declining their counter until I got it to where I wanted it. One time it said it actually went Under Contract with another buyer. I put in a back-up bid, and eventually they offered it to me at the back-up bid.... Which I then declined. :)

Do your homework if you haven't yet. This is very different from other REO purchases. Their contract is very one sided, with no contingencies.

That's right @Dawn Anastasi Sold as-is, and no contingencies. You can have an inspection but doesn't make much of a difference what comes up on it. 

Hi @Drew Denham ,

I just closed on a Hubzu house and did a lot of research on them in the process. They may not have the actual contract available to review until you've won the bid but check. What kind of listing is it? Is it an auction or short sale? Their policies vary depending on who the seller is. Most of their postings are REO's being sold by Ocwen (mortgage servicer), or Short Sales being serviced by Ocwen.

If it's one of their standard auctions, you can get an inspection, however there is generally no inspection or financing contingencies in the contract. And they will not activate water for inspections or appraisals, which is challening if you are going to try and get a conventional loan. You have to close or lose the EM deposit.

I had an inspection and had the water pipes air pressure tested all prior to winning the auction. It was worth the few hundred bucks to have the peace of mind of knowing what you're getting into.

Any other questions let me know. 

Just want to point out another great benefit to Bigger Pockets illuminated by this thread, is the fact that you can have a thread like this with people having very objective and civilized thoughts and discussion on such a topic. On any other site or blog, this would have boiled over into a ranting, thoughtless political debate. Kudos to all for keeping it civilized. :)

Other than that, just wanted comment that I don't think artificially inflating the population via immigration or the homeless, will rejuvenate anything. A declining population is just a symptom of much larger systemic underlying issues, it's not the cause.

If increasing population = improving economy, than there are about 100+ countries with a higher population density than the USA, that should be theoretically thriving right now. Most not any better than Detroit.