Short sale question : when a home is listed as a short sale, can you offer less than the price listed?

Question

I am looking at buying a home that is listed as a short sale. The asking price is $164,000. I understand what a short sale is, but what I am not sure of is whether or not there is any flexibility in the listing price at all. Is the listed price the lowest absolute price the lender will accept, or can someone attempt to offer less, say for example $160,000?

Answer 1

You can offer whatever you want... but if it's a short sale, the owner's current lender must approve the amount you offer.  If you go in too low, they may flat out reject the offer.

Also keep in mind that sometimes they will make you pay a bit more than the market value.  So decide what your maximum price is before starting the bidding.

Answer 2

Yes, they do have flexibility.  You don't know what the payoff is.  It could be $165,000 or $190,000.

So I would encourage you to make your offer, however, never, ever base an offer on the list price of the house.  You base it on what the MARKET says the house is worth.

There are people in California right now that have their homes listed for, let's say, $600,000 and their homes are only worth $450,000.  So someone out of town would think that a price drop to $500K would be a great deal....but you can't know what a "deal" is until you research the market.

I sure hope you are working with a Realtor b/c that's a hard thing to do on your own if you don't work in the industry.

PS:  No one gets an appraisal before they make an offer.  That's a waste of money.  That is why you get a Realtor.

Answer 3

This is America.  Offer what you wish;  It will either be ignored,

rejected or accepted..or even countered.

Answer 4

Offer the current market price, whatever it is, based on appraisal.

  

Answer 5

You can always offer anything you want, but when the bank is already taking a loss, they’re not often inclined to take much more.