Foreclosures…. seems like a great way to steal a deal, but there is an interesting sidebar called a short-sale. At the beginning of the value dropping avalanche from the heights, foreclosures were a sure way to bid low and come away with a great deal. But then came the tidal wave of short sales as all of the ARM mortgages readjusted. Combine the two and we’re all spinning around in a nasty market where getting deals closed has become a time-robbing, patience-testing experience.
What we’re seeing today in San Diego County is a high percentage of short-sales. Short-sales are the dread of buyer’s agents as it could take over 3 months to learn whether or not the lender will accept the short-sale offer….3 months! Who wants to put an offer on that property? The surprising outcome of this is that foreclosures are actually more atractive and thus perhaps getting better, higher priced offers as the response time isn’t nearly as long.
After showing one of my clients close to 20 condos, she put in an offer on a foreclosure, versus some of the other choices whch were short-sales. This came after I called all of the listing agents on the short-sale properties and recieved less than encouraging responses: Some had not even collected the necessary documentation from the homeowner; some were stalled by overwhelmed lenders who don’t have time to review all of the short-sale applications; and some just didn’t know where to begin.
Foreclosures, priced to sell are looking good. We made a full price offer as the foreclosure listing price was easliy $30,000 under the comps, and $190,000 under what the defaluted owner had paid just 18 months ago. We expect a response in the next day or so.
