Short Sales - Pre Forclosures

we found a great house but its a short sale....seems to be more common in florida especially with the market being so bad - we've been reading up on it and trying to do some research on the pros and cons...anyone in real estate? or ever buy a short sale?

one advantage for us is that it takes a really long time to close - they told us it will probably take the bank about a month to accept/acknowledge the bid as opposed to when you put a bid in to a seller you usually find out within 2 days - so just that alone would take awhile but for us the longer the process the better since we arent ready to actually move yet....but there is lots of paperwork and going back and forth i know we'll need a good lawyer and i know that the homeowner and bank are not reponsible to fix anything after the house is inspected - its like a foreclosure in that sense - you take it as it is....the house was built in 2005 so its only 3 years old....but anyways, before i keep rambling for no reason, does anyone have any info about this?

I am actually in the midst of attempting to get a house on a short sale...fm me for more details, but, i wouldnt recommend short sales to people...BUT...you said that you are okay with waiting...that's been the worst part...we have been waiting about 2 months and still don't have an answer...part of that is because of the seller, but a large part is the bank...if you are willing to wait, then it might be worth it.

It has been a very frustrating / upsetting / disheartening experience. We LOVED the house (and still do) when we went into this over 3 months ago...but now, with all of the back and forth, it has taken something away from it. At this point, we just want an answer so that we can start looking at houses again, or atleast know that we are waiting until after the wedding...that's another downside - you are technically 'in contract' before you even have any kind of an answer...

Like I said, feel free to FM me...best of luck with it if you go through with it, but just know that it will definitely take some time...

Yup I do. We bought our house on short sale also. It was the most strenous thing we ever did. Waiting and waiting. The worst part of buying a short sale house is, you HAVE to buy the house AS IS, with not restrictions on it. I don't know about the house who want to buy but with ours, we have the plumbing and heat winterized. They shut everything off because no one was living in the house. WE had no way of finding out if the plumbing worked or if the heat worked. WE took a chance. I wasn't worried about that because those are things that can be replaced. It might cost money but it's better than having terminetes in your house.

We did however have a engineer come inspect the house for us. I am in the construction buisness so I asked a friend;s boss who is a structrual engineer come check out the house for us. I was more concerned about the house being structurally able to support itself. Everything turned out well so we decided to go ahead.

With our short sale, it was the total opposite. When we got awarded the bid price on the house, they wanted us to close within 21 days. . I hired a real estate attorney who I found through my broker. Really great guy. He went over the contract in detail with us and made us aware that AGAIN the house is being sold AS is. If there were any liens or violations on the house, we would be responsible for it. So I did my own work. I went down to the Town of Hempstead where everything on homes is public record and got a copy of blueprints as well as a title on the house. Again we were lucky, No violations, No Co's, etc.

I didn't regret doing this because when we got the apprisal on the house, it was worth $100K more than what we paid.

MY advice - take your time, do your homework, do research on the house and have an inspect check the house structurally and for termites.

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Posted by rahana316

Yup I do. We bought our house on short sale also. It was the most strenous thing we ever did. Waiting and waiting. The worst part of buying a short sale house is, you HAVE to buy the house AS IS, with not restrictions on it. I don't know about the house who want to buy but with ours, we have the plumbing and heat winterized. They shut everything off because no one was living in the house. WE had no way of finding out if the plumbing worked or if the heat worked. WE took a chance. I wasn't worried about that because those are things that can be replaced. It might cost money but it's better than having terminetes in your house.

We did however have a engineer come inspect the house for us. I am in the construction buisness so I asked a friend;s boss who is a structrual engineer come check out the house for us. I was more concerned about the house being structurally able to support itself. Everything turned out well so we decided to go ahead.

With our short sale, it was the total opposite. When we got awarded the bid price on the house, they wanted us to close within 21 days. . I hired a real estate attorney who I found through my broker. Really great guy. He went over the contract in detail with us and made us aware that AGAIN the house is being sold AS is. If there were any liens or violations on the house, we would be responsible for it. So I did my own work. I went down to the Town of Hempstead where everything on homes is public record and got a copy of blueprints as well as a title on the house. Again we were lucky, No violations, No Co's, etc.

I didn't regret doing this because when we got the apprisal on the house, it was worth $100K more than what we paid.

MY advice - take your time, do your homework, do research on the house and have an inspect check the house structurally and for termites.

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my FH and i have some property already in florida that we were thinking about building a home on - but because we cant be there while its being built and because building is a litle more expensive my mom suggested we look at re-sales since there are so many newer homes on the market....it turns out that this short sale home is the same model of the house we would have wanted to build - so we already know the layout and specs of the home. this one was built in 2005 so its only 3 years old. it has nice tile all throughout, corian countertops in the kitchen and all bathrooms, french doors to the backyard, its a really nice house with some upgrades - i think we'd be more reluctant doing a short sale if it was an older home but since the builder is reputable and the home is only 3 years old we have our fingers crossed that we won't find anything wrong with it but we def still would need to have it checked out - right now a pool company is checking to make sure they can build a pool in the yard and if that is a go my FH and i are going to take a trip down to see the house and then we will go from there....

my FH and i know a little bit about buying a home but we know NOTHING about buying a short sale home so its a little nervewracking - the one thing we were told and found in our reseach about short sales was that it can take a really long time to close and its a lot of paperwork and going back adn forth - for us that actually works out because we still have 6 months until the wedding and we arent going to be relocating until maybe the spring or summer of 2009 - we want to put off having to pay a mortgage for as long as we can - it doesnt bother us to start paying a mortgage without living there - but the longer it takes the better....

i just hope all goes well with the pool company!

Nicole my friend who lives in Arizona is actually closing on her house the 1st week of June. It was a short sale. Their offer was accepted in March.

Let me know if you have any questions and I can ask her.

If you have the time I think it's worth it.

DH & I have been waiting 5 months. It has been very stressful. We still have no idea if our offer is going to be accepted. Should it work out, it will be worth it. If not. I am going to be rather upset. 5 months is a looong time when the market is prime for buyers..

FM if you have any questions!

Hey,

I'm involved in one right now. We put a bid in on a house that was such a good deal..seems unreal. It is a short sale, or so the realtor claims. Our lawyer is not so sure.. I do not know much about it though..LOL, all I know is we have an AWESOME lawyer who is handling it all for us.

FM me for her info :)

GOOD LUCK