Are the banks really overwelmed by all the forclosures or are they jacking my time around?

Question

I have been told that the banks are swamped by forclosures and bankruptcies so much that they cannot get to our house offer yet even thou its been 1 1 /2 months. Is this true or are they taking their time waiting for a better offer or auction? My b/f says "It's a buyers market and they should be begging for our money" and I am stupid to believe and wait.

Answer 1

Unfortunately, they are very overwhelmed. Truly, they should expand their REO department to handle the volume. It could only help their situation as they would be able to sell quicker, ending in reduction of their inventory and new homeowners (something we need in this housing market). Banks don't want REOs (Real Estate Owned...houses they take by foreclosure) so I would bring that up to them...you're trying to take another REO off of their books which will benefit them. It's possible that they are waiting for another offer, but I'm inclined to go with them being overwhelmed. I've included a link to Countrywide's online REO search. This will give you an idea as to how many they are dealing with. They have so many, they've listed them for easy search...take a look...you may find another home in your area you like more, or can buy easier.

Answer 2

Number one - yes, the banks are stupid about houses. Remember, they are in the business of owning paper - not houses.

Number two - yes they are overloaded with foreclosures. It normally take 30-90 days for an offer on a REO (bank owned property) to be accepted or denied after it has been submitted.

Answer 3

Have you not been watching the news?

We are in the largest foreclosure situation since the 70's.  It came on suddenly and banks are doing the best they can with the staffing that they have in these departments.

Dont' listen to your boyfriend...it's not his house, it's yours.

They aren't going to take just any offer that you throw down...banks weight it against many factors, and yes, if your offer was severely low-balled they are probably waiting for a better offer and may have actually already received one b/c they are not required to respond back to you at all.

Answer 4

Some banks that had poor decision and lending processes have huge numbers of foreclosures.  Most banks that were careful in their lending have some, but not overwhelming numbers.

If they can't get to your house offer in over a month and a half, I'd go elsewhere - they are bs'ing you for some reason.

Answer 5

I personally think some lenders layed off their staff to the point of rebellion with who's remaining. Not enough hours in the day.

I remember working in a human resource division for an airline just before and after 911. I remember the stress we faced with deciding who stayed and who was let go.  You can't function to your fullest potential under that kind of situation. And I don't know about anyone else, but I felt so bad for all those families losing their jobs and potentially their homes as well.  So I guess what I'm saying is, please be patient. While some may be playing the waiting game for a better offer, I believe most are.  If you have no time to wait, I suggest you withdraw your offer and move on.

Answer 6

Yes, he is right. Now is time to buy. Who ever the seller is, I would let the seller know there is a time limit. Either accept the offer now, or I walk.  Houses, stocks, this is the time to buy, buy,buy. Then when everyone else catches on, gets in on the game, sell. When it crashes again, they all lose, you make money. Got to love that liberal panic mode!

The government, once again, caused the mess. by threatening loan institutes to accept offers by low income people with bad credit, or face charges of discrimination. It forced them to make bad loans. Just like they caused high gas prices. Then blame everyone else.

Answer 7

They are really swamped, so it is taking them a lot longer than it should be to let you know if they are taking your offer, rejecting it outright, or making you a counter offer.  It's also true that they are also waiting for better offers to come in.  They have the right to take a higher offer right up until you actually close, and they will.

Currently banks are still trying to hold out for at least 90% of full market value.  Eventually they will wise up (or go out of business like we've seen recently) to take lower offers, but banks are typically very slow learners!

Every month the house sits on the market, the bank will probably drop the price a little.  Keep an eye on it, even if they reject your price now.  They may wind up selling it  a few months from now for less than what you've offerred.  It doesn't make sense, but that's what a lot of them are doing, at least at the moment.

I would suggest you re-submit your same exact offer every 2 weeks until you get an answer.  If your realtor won't do that for you, find another realtor.

Also, there are plenty of houses out there.  Keep looking, and you may find others you want to place offers in on as well while the bank "takes their time" to get back to you.

Good luck.