I lost a deal recently but need some direction as to if I can salvage an even better one.
Long story short, I put a short sale offer in to a servicing company for 160k. After 4 months they accepted but wanted to close in 7 days, auction date was 7 days after that. I told them I would try but it was not a reasonable time frame and to give me more time. Auction date comes near and I request an extension but they keep giving me the phone tag run around. A few days before auction my mortgage guy tells me my loan has been approved, sends me a title commitment and asks when do you want to close. I fax all of the info to the servicing comp. but they still do not respond. So I go to the auction to see if they have postponed and you guessed it? They did not.
This was the funny part the lender started the bidding at 130k. My jaw dropped. Nobody bid so it went back to them. This home needs nothing but a good cleaning and it will sell for 190k-200k in a couple of weeks, and these are good numbers. I wish I had the cash.
So finally my question. Do/can lenders sell right after the auction? My state has no redemption period but it typically takes lenders 3+ months before a foreclosure is listed. This lender is a large national bank. I would like to contact the lender and try to purchase the home before it is gutted by thiefs in the next 3 months. Has anybody had any success buying a property that was foreclosed on but not yet listed? Thanks
The short answer is yes - the servicer can sell immediately - or at least as soon as they have a trustee’s deed or whatever instrument conveys title to them.
The reality of it is that servicers are taking back thousands of properties right now. They have a process in place and it probably isn’t as expeditious as you’d like. They will typically transfer the status of the account from foreclosure to REO. Then based on location assign it out to a realtor in the area with whom they have a relationship. Realtor visits house, secures house or reports back that eviction is needed, etc., blah blah. At some point it gets listed and sells.
Contact the REO department of the servicer and express your interest in buying the property. But don’t be surprised if their response is as sloth-like as when they were pondering your short sale offer. You are dealing with a huge bureaucracy and they are slow, inefficient and un-motivated.
Ok, two different answers. swgprop- Doesnt the original lender now own the home? The servicer just has the rights to collect and manage payments, right?
This servicer has a large REO departmant(100 listings) for my state, that might handle this REO. But then again the actual lender(who I found on the filing papers) also has a few(5) REO listings on its website. Have I answered my own question?
Bovine - in most cases the original lender doesn’t own the home. Most loans get sold and securitized so it is often difficult to discern who owns the beneficial interest in the loan - or now the property.
Contact the servicer’s REO department - in most cases the servicer will continue to handle the loan/property through to the bitter end.