REO Clockwork

It is very important that your Realtor knows the vast difference between a REO, a bank owned property, and a normal listing. If your Realtor isn't aware of the differences between the two, you could end up losing your money, or worse yet, the property you desired to purchase. Let me explain how this could happen.

Banks have complete control when it comes to a bank owned property. They make their own rules and follow no disclosure requirements. Typically they will have a potential client sign something called an addendum, which basically takes away the protections a buyer may have, and gives them sole power in the decision making.

They will give you a timeline you have to follow, or more likely then not there will be repercussions. They really unfair thing about it, is that they don't have to respond to anything or anybody until they are good and ready. For an example, I myself have a bank owned property being held in escrow at this moment, on which I was approved for well over a month ago. However, the bank didn't even open my escrow until almost three weeks into the thirty day stint.

It took a full three weeks before we received my contract and addendum. Not so lucky for us that when we first signed into this contract, it stated that we would be charged $100 per day per Diem for every day that went past the thirty-day period!

Then they did nothing on time to make it possible for us to make the deadline. As many of you know, the majority of short sales do not close successfully. This is usually due to the listing agent not knowing how to do them, but taking the listing anyways. If the listing agent doesn't put in all the work ahead of time, a short sale is a nightmare. REO's can be the same. In this case, the listing agent assured me that he had done all the footwork and the bank was ready to move.

Submitted by: Bill Stein knows all about shopping new homes for sale and properties overall. Check out his other posts online.