Bank owned properties - Posted by Mary-VA

Posted by Chris on May 30, 2006 at 10:28:45:

Hello Rosiland, I live in San Francisco, what other areas are you looking at?

Bank owned properties - Posted by Mary-VA

Posted by Mary-VA on May 20, 2006 at 11:25:39:

I keep reading advice on buying REO’s but I’m finding that banks “sell” their REO’s to Real Estate Companies to sell for them, so there is no chance of buying from the banks. Anyone else finding this?

Re: Bank owned properties - Posted by Frank Chin

Posted by Frank Chin on May 22, 2006 at 11:22:51:

Mary:

It’s common for banks to “list” them with realtors they work with, particularly in the “hot markets”, where they get retail prices from folks looking to live in, rather than to flip. If you were the bank, wouldn’t you want 100% FMV rather than 70% that makes sense for the investor??

Frank Chin

Re: Bank owned properties - Posted by John Corey

Posted by John Corey on May 21, 2006 at 10:21:59:

Mary,

Two things. Max is correct in saying that banks will commonly list the property. I am not sure if you really meant to say they sell the property to a liquidation company. There are some liquidation companies and there are some banks that use them. Hence both situations can happen with the bank listing the property on the MLS with an agent being the most common.

  1. Just because you can not directly work with a bank (you have to go through an agent) does not mean that an REO is a bad deal. I have been a part of some deals and seen others as a lender where the bank sold for less than the market value. The bank has some pretty strong incentive to get the property off their books so will discount if the property has been on the market for a while.

Discounts tend to happen the most when the overall market is not robust. If a bank can wait a few more months and obtain a better price in a rising market they might be motivated to do so. If the market is flat then waiting costs the bank more money each month so taking a lower price now is the way to go.

Also remember that it might be a low paid hourly employee handling the property. If they get a bonus for clearing out the inventory they are more motivated to do so. If they get no bonus but get dinged each time they do a bad deal they will tend to sit rather than take a deal that might look odd.

John Corey

Re: Bank owned properties - Posted by Max-Va

Posted by Max-Va on May 20, 2006 at 16:19:06:

“I’m finding that banks “sell” their REO’s to Real Estate Companies to sell for them”

This is not correct. All the banks that I have delt with have a policy to imediately list the property with a RE Broker, They do not sell to a broker so the broker can resell. Most have a broker approved and they get the listing. This way the bank does not have to show to hundreds of people and answer thousands of phone calls.

Reply: Bank owned properties - Posted by dd

Posted by dd on May 20, 2006 at 13:40:49:

Well, yes, that’s usually ‘how it works.’ Your better bet is to find a property that is in pre-foreclosure. Also, property that is in pre-foreclosure just days away before foreclosure is likely your better chance at obtaining the property for less than you would otherwise. Once it goes to foreclosure, the bank wants to recoup their loan through the sale and then some. Best to know and have a target market that you personally monitor in addition to REO’s that may or may not be in your area too so you ‘know’ the property. This is what a friend tells me who has been doing this for a number of years.

Re: Bank owned properties - Posted by Mary-VA

Posted by Mary-VA on May 23, 2006 at 07:34:31:

Thank you all for answering my question. I have learned a lot, especially where not to waste my time.
You helped me see all sides of the question. Creonline people are the best!

Re: Bank owned properties - Posted by Mary-VA

Posted by Mary-VA on May 23, 2006 at 07:34:13:

Thank you all for answering my question. I have learned a lot, especially where not to waste my time.
You helped me see all sides of the question. Creonline is the best!

Re: Reply: Bank owned properties - Posted by Rosalind Endriga

Posted by Rosalind Endriga on May 29, 2006 at 22:39:31:

How do you find pre-foreclosure properties?
Roz

Reply: preforeclosures and finding them - Posted by dd

Posted by dd on May 30, 2006 at 01:07:34:

go to http://www.google.com or any major search engine and key in preforeclosures you will find a number of services who search the county recorder’s offices in each city. Since this is something you can do simply by visiting your local county recorder’s office and spending some time going through the reams of bound up history of records for blocks of dates (at least that’s how it is at my local county records)you will find amidst the records of recording of deeds, liens, and various other documents the occasional notice of default. check your local paper for these notices. Each state has various numbers of days that a property can be in default before the final foreclosure when the property is put up for bid/foreclosed upon.

I know http://www.foreclosures.com is tops in terms of being most current for my geographic area/Contra Costa County and the neighboring San Francisco Bay Area while the next most current is http://www.realtytrac.com For more northern counties I am finding http://www.realtystore.com and a few others seems to have existent and current info. If you key in the phrase Marin County preforeclosures you will see these services pop up towards the top in your searches as with other county names you can key in. There are others so you will need to check based on what counties you are most interested in. The advantages of the online services is in the time it may save you in terms of culling through the daily lists in your area. Unfortunately, if you are looking to save gas and multiple trips to the county recorder’s office the ‘trade off’ in using the services is the number of days that will typically lag the recorder’s office. These services send teams to the county recorder’s offices constantly. Whether or not it is daily NONE of the services say so I am assuming a number of days per week. The services all charge fees ranging from $24.99 all the way to $49.95 per month so take into consideration the costs as well as how long you want to search. If you are on a modest budget these fees will seem expensive, if you have a bigger budget well then, it will seem inexpensive. Property in California is a bit overvalued in my area so I am looking elsewhere and weighing that into whether or not I will go forward with a service such as this.