Comments on: I just made an offer on a home in short sale (about to go to foreclosure)?

By: slguldi

slguldi — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 08:37:11 +0000

A short sale is a sale where the back has agreed to allow the owner to sell the house for less than they owe on it, rather than the bank take it in forclosure. The offer should not be binding yet, as short sales are “subject to 3rd party approval” (meaning the bank). What the bank is looking at is basically if your offer is an acceptable loss to them. That being said with a short sale they bank has to approve the list price so if you wrote for list and do not have a lot of contingencies then you should be fine. As far as other offers, until your is approved by the bank it is not a contract, so theoretically someone could write a better offer and get the house, and you would simply be back where you were before you wrote the offer because it never was a contract. In my experience though most people try to get a better deal than a short sale already is. It is out of your hands at this point, but you are most likely fine having written full price.

By: sportychick14

sportychick14 — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 07:27:44 +0000

The bank always checks 3 things-your credit history, your down payment & your affordability. Usually with a foreclosure, what you see is what you get, so beware. As far as accepting any other offers, if you’ve signed a contract, than that contract is binding between you & the home owner until finalized by the bank. One note though, if the original home owner comes back & pays his/her arrears on the home, they legally can take back their home & you get your down payment back.

By: novastarbanker

novastarbanker — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 09:29:39 +0000

The bank has to approve the lesser payment being made on the home. The seller can entertain any offer they want, even after you go into contract, so be careful, and make sure you have an attorney looking out for any money you spend. If the seller chooses to accept another offer after you go into contract then you are able to get money back for any expenses incurred. Good Luck!!

By: muru

muru — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 23:22:44 +0000

the seller can’t sell it to other buyer if u have done a sales and purchase agreement…..

By: ME

ME — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 04:51:01 +0000

No other wise they will be breaking a contract. They are tied into your offer for 17 days. Make sure you do all that you need to do to close the sale. (appraisal, home inspection, termite inspection, escrow papers etc.)

By: Tasha

Tasha — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 01:27:54 +0000

Foreclosure, laws are different in each state. I will attempt to answer based on IL foreclosure, if the owner still owns the property and the owner accepted your offer with a signature, then you might be the only offer presented to the lender. The owner can take back up offers(just in case you do not close)but your contract who have to be cancelled in order to accept another offer.

By: Sue

Sue — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 04:54:09 +0000

Once they have accepted your offer, they cannot accept another higher bid.

However, they can ‘hold’ other offers pending your approval. If, and only if, you don’t get approved, can they move on to the next bidder. I think legally they can’t reject yours simply because a new one came along, as long as you meet the original approval requirements.

They can’t ‘accept’ more than one offer at a time.

By: json t

json t — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 02:03:33 +0000

In the UK if an other offer comes before yours is approved the owner of the house can take up the other offer. If that happens you lose money (solicitors fees, survey fees, and other legal fees)
Pray that no offer comes until the bank has approves yours

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:50:59 +0000

It depends on the contract.

The bank WANTS to do the loan, so I’m sure they’ll push it along as quickly as possible.

If your contract doesn’t have any “out” for the owner to accept another offer, you could sue them if they fail to sell you the property.

In other words, you’re probably safe.

Congratulations on your pending purchase!

By: Leroy W

Leroy W — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 18:17:54 +0000

if its approved their supposed to honor yours