Should i stay with my current house offer ?

Question

My husband and I just purchased a home for a really good price in a very decent neighborhood. I felt like I had the best deal in the neighborhood. Today I found 2 other homes in the same neighborhood same size same house characteristics but were about 100 g less than the house we bought, but these 2 other houses are short sales! Should I try getting out of my deal and try end get the same house for a less cost. It seems like the logical thing to do however my realtor advised me about buying short sales, I guess they take long and the bank does not take any losses. She says that price is a hook!

Answer 1

I would stick with your current offer.  I just went through this myself a few months ago.  The problem with a short sale is that the bank has to agree to allow the seller out of his/her mortgage for whatever it is you are offering.  99% of the time, the bank will not settle for what the house is listed at and it can take months to get a final answer.  

Your realtor is correct, the posted price on a short sale is a way to grab your interest.  If you make an offer on the short sale, you could easily spend months going back and forth with the bank that owns the property.  In the mean time, you have given up the house you've already bid on and are back at square one.  Not to mention the fact that you may have to pay a penalty to get out of the contract you have already negotiated.

Purchasing a home is stressful enough without trying to negotiate a short sale - I would stick with the one you've already won the bid on.

Answer 2

Be aware that many 'short sellers' are desperate and offer their properties at VERY attractive prices. They are looking to get offers to save their backsides.  In reality, no lender is going to approve a short sale offer for much less than is market value.

Many 'short sellers' think that, if they get some sort of offer to sell their property, regardless of market value, the lender will accept such an offer.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

When lenders consider short sales, they will ONLY consider such offers which represent market value, or quite close to same.

In other words, do NOT be misled by the asking price of such properties in your neighborhood. Chances are high that lenders will refuse to approve any offers which are below market value.

Answer 3

Your Realtor was right to caution you about buying short sales. Sometimes the low prices are just "teasers" to get bids. Other times, they're legitimate numbers, but they're still subject to the lender's approval...and sometimes they don't approve. They can take a long time--3 months isn't bad, and I've heard of some taking 9-10 months. And when you buy a short sale, you're getting the property in "as is" condition. Sure, you can (and should) have a home inspection done before purchasing, but what you see is what you get.

Having said that, your Realtor should have shown you comps for the property you were considering buying. She should have run a CMA (competitive market analysis) to show you what the values were in the neighborhood.

There's some debate about whether short sales should be included in with the "normal" sales. I personally (as a Realtor) believe they should be. That's the competition. That's what's on the market. Especially ones that have closed. So you should ask your Realtor why she didn't tell you about the short sales.

And I'm a bit confused. You say your husband and you "just purchased a home." And that you thought you had "the best deal in the neighborhood." If you've gone to closing, then you did, indeed, purchase the home. Yet you ask "Should I try getting out of my deal?" If you've just purchased the home, then you can't. If you mean that you've just submitted an offer, you can always withdraw the offer.

It really depends on how much you like that particular house, and how soon you want to/need to move. You could be waiting through 2009 for some resolution to any offer you make on one of the short sale properties. And even then, there's no guarantee you'll get one.

Hope that clarifies matters.

Answer 4

yes for $200,000 do it.

Answer 5

You need to find out if the short sales were approved.

Often, very often, the selling agent puts a price far below what the banks will even think about just to get you in the loop.

You need to stop looking, you will end up loosing the one you have and not managing to get another, on top of paying to get out of deals.