Posted by Steve-DC on February 06, 2002 at 13:33:43:
Sorry,
But what is the NOD stage?
-Steve
? about bank repo’s - Posted by Tina (IL)
Posted by Tina (IL) on February 05, 2002 at 24:22:12:
I hope I don’t sound too much like a novice asking this question. I am a part time real estate agent, & my husband & I have also done re-habs, lease-options, & rentals. But I just cannot figure this out…
In our area (right outside St. Louis Mo) we have had a terrible time trying to make offers on bank repo’s. Once the are published in the paper, we have tried calling the lawyers listed (2 or 3 we have tried are located in Chicago), usually we get transferred to a voice mail & never hear back. Or if we do, we have been told the “paperwork” isn’t ready yet.
I have tried to go directly to the banks, & have fought the battle of, “it’s handled at a local level”, “it’s handled at the corporate level”. Or another voice mail regardless of being called however many times is not returned. I’ve tried letters to both agencies to no avail, as both a Realtor & as an investor. No response.
Recently a client of mine had called the lawyer’s group himself, he really has been pursuing one particular house for about a year now. The lawyers did return HIS call & told him that they deal with one Realty in our area & he would need to watch for it in the papers, they absolutely refused to work with his offer (which was way above market value even if the home was in perfect condition, it’s not) and would not have included paying a commission to a Realty company. I did a little more research & found which company. Apparently this company handles probably 80% of the repo’s in our area. However they only produce less than an eighth of the total sales for this area. I am a little confused. Why would law firm’s that do such high volume work with such a low producing, no-name company? Why would they turn down a top dollar offer paying no commissions, less paperwork, to list with this company & pay more fees, while probably receive less to take this off their books?
Sorry to be so redundant, but how would I approach this, both as an investor, & as a Realtor who would love to get her hands on these listings? Also by the way, one of the partners of this company has actually done jail time for what, I haven’t found out the details, but something about not protecting their client’s interests.
We (my husban & I) wonder if perhaps they are not paying these law firms kickbacks? Is that sounding too paranoid? I am really frustrated considering I just lost a sale due to the fact that this other Realtor told me he had a buyer for this house & would do an Exclusive Right To Sell if neccessary, because he also had a buyer (yes I contacted him before it was listed in hopes of him being co-operative, esp with a pre-approved, willing to pay over value priced buyer. Apparently having a bigger commission in pocket was more important than a better sales price for his seller), So my buyer (who wanted to live directly across the street from his aging parents, has just lost out).
Frustrated & Confused, Tina
Re: ? about bank repo’s - Posted by Brent_IL
Posted by Brent_IL on February 05, 2002 at 15:29:47:
It’s my understanding that although the choice of realty agent may be based on fees and favoritism, banks list the property primarily to avoid liability and the color of insider profiteering. They have already accounted for their losses.
If the bank has informed your client that they would not deal with him, why not go to the listing agent and make an offer on his behalf that includes an agency commission? Adjust the numbers to make sense.
Re: ? about bank repo’s - Posted by Nate(DC)
Posted by Nate(DC) on February 05, 2002 at 24:45:49:
Actually, it is fairly common, from what I can tell, for agents that list REOs to offer some type of “kickback” (typically called a “referral fee” - sounds much more legal, doesn’t it) in order to get the listing.
Typically, though, the referral fee would be paid to the lender or servicer, NOT to the attorney handling the case. In most cases, at least in the Washington area, the attorney simply does the foreclosure paperwork and is not involved in selling the property once the lender has taken it back.
You may find that you are getting no response from the lawyers because they are not the right people to talk to. The lender may have set procedures for selling their REOs (ex: list with XYZ Realty Co. because they pay the biggest referral fee) and the foreclosure lawyer is unlikely to be able to get those changed, and even less likely to care about you or your client’s desire to purchase a particular property. Their job is to file a mountain of foreclosure paperwork, and that’s IT.
The lender, lawyer, auctioneer, and agent that ultimately lists the property once it’s gone back to the lender all have their own little defined roles. Trying to buy anything from a large instutition is going to be fraught with bureaucracy and annoyance and it sounds like you’ve experienced that first hand. When I look for REOs to buy I do nothing other than search MLS because any other avenue has turned out to be a huge waste of time.
Sorry to shoot you down but in my experience that is how the process works.
NT
Re: ? about bank repo’s - Posted by Michael
Posted by Michael on February 05, 2002 at 18:04:26:
You my have more success working at the NOD stage. In our area REO?s are typically assigned to Realtors and sold at market value, leaving little room for profit.