Buying a bank owned home

A home that my wife and I were considering putting an offer on this weekend just got foreclosed. We called the selling agent and was told that she lost the listing. Is there any way to contact the bank to make an offer? Or are we going to have to wait and see what happens and if they will put it back on the market?

Thanks, H.

Reply to
Hubert
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In a situation like this, the answer probably is "anything goes." There is no reason at all why you couldn't just phone or walk into the bank and inquire about buying the house. You will lose nothing by doing that You might even consider contacting the former owners for further information about what is happening. One thing for sure, the bank wants to get rid of it as quickly as possible.

Reply to
Don

The answer is: it depends on where you live. My wife and I are also trying to purchase a foreclosed property. I'll tell you what we've discovered, but bear in mind that the rules vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

The bank foreclosed on the property in question nearly a year ago. The tried to sell it at an auction but they convienently failed to disclose the fact that the house is condemned. So the guy they duped in to buying it raised a big stink and got out of purchasing the house. That was in November of 2006.

In the mean time, the bank has been sitting on the house. According to their REO officer, they were attempting to pursue a deed in lieu of foreclosure with the previous owner. This basically gives ownership of the house to the bank and relinquishes the previous owner from all liability (though her credit is still wrecked). The REO officer told me that, once the deed was signed, they would start entertaining offers on the house.

Unfortunately, the previous owner did not sign the deed. The bank waited for a few months and finally decided to resume the full foreclosure proceedings. In our jurisdiction, that means the bank is REQUIRED to try to sell the property at auction. So my wife and I will go to the auction and try to purchase the house there.

One final note: if the property fails to sell at auction (which I consider to be a distinct possibility), we will then be able to negotiate directly with the bank.

Anyway, those are the rules where I live. You should check with a real estate agent in your jurisdiction to find out the rules. Make sure you ask an agent who knows what they're doing. Many agents have never dealt with foreclosures, so they're just as clueless as you, at this point. :-)

--Bill

Reply to
Bill Woessner

California real estate uses public records. Your county clerk/ recorder has these. You can contact him/her. If there was in fact a trustee sale, notices had to published in the local paper (library). You should be able to determine the lender one way or another. From your description your house is now an REO (Real Estate Owned). It's in the literature. Big institutions move in plodding and mysterious ways that serve the self interest of the senior executives.

Good Luck

Reply to
camgere

Thanks all for the responses. Looks like I will have to do some investigative work to located the current owner/bank. Who should I try to speak to once I have acquired this information?

Reply to
Hubert

You might look at

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which seems to have a lot of information about foreclosed houses.

The local tax assessor is probably the best bet for finding the current owner. If it is a bank, call the bank's main number and tell whoever answers that you are interested in buying a house the bank owns. I'm sure you will get directed to the right place.

-- Doug

Reply to
Douglas Johnson

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Reply to
GoodRead

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