Today’s mortgage Interest Rates are  historically low at  4.375%  along with low Home prices, Foreclosures and Short Sales are the craze today it is a buyers market. I have been receiving a large number of  calls lately from clients who only want to purchase foreclosures , when I offer information or try to show  homes that are being offered as Short Sales  I get responces like, No short sales they never get approved. One of my clients would not even get out of the car when I said this home is the best priced and maintained home in the neighborhood they wanted to live in and was listed for $20,000 less than the foreclosed home that needed thousands of dollars worth of work.

Short Sales can be a great value so I decided to explore the stats to prove my point that people are missing out on great deals on homes that are a  much better value than some Foreclosure.

Right now in Bullhead City Arizona we have 48 Foreclosed homes available for sale in the price range of $28,000 – $329,000 and  the Short Sale inventory in Bullhead City is 28 Homes in the Price Range of $39,500 – $380,000 I did not include any Manufactured Homes or Condos or Homes in Fort Mohave. Now lets Compare the two:

The Foreclosed/Reo VS. Short Sale Homes

In checking out the recent Foreclosure/Reo closings it is obvious to me and confirms my experience on what is happening with the Foreclosure/Reo homes for sale right now. When the buyer is ready to make an offer on a foreclosure the norm right now is there are usually multiple offers that are already submitted so I usually prepare my buyers to make their offer as good as they can to start with. Every time I put an offer in on a Foreclosure the next day like clock work I get an e-mail stating  multiple offers so put in your highest and best and we do well over the asking price and walla the next day the property is pending in the MLS. Being hopeful its our offer that was accepted I call and guess what, sorry someone got it at a higher price. After viewing all the closed sales it is clear as to what is happening on the Foreclosure/Reo Sales.

You the buyer must be prepared to pay more than the asking price then the home is being offered For Sale For. WHY? The sales price is so low that multiple offers come to the table and when that happens, the buyer will be asked to give their “HIGHEST and BEST’ purchase price offer. The bank will ask only once so make that offer the best you can possibly do. This is not an auction, so one SHOT is all you get to re-price your offer and banks prefer cash and prefer owner occupied homeowners probably because of investors who buy and flip homes for a profit. They also want the highest and best offer quickly and you will also need your proof of funds or letter of prequalification also keep in mind if you are the lucky highest bidder you are accepting the property in the AS-IS condition. The Bank is not going to be giving you a repair allowance. From the closed sales stats almost all the foreclosed homes sold for a lot more than the asking price.

Short Sales on the other hand are closing quicker,  Banks have streamlined the process. I have been getting quicker responses on my short sale listings and almost all of the closed sales sold  for the list price. Why is this?  Because the Banks are now setting the Sales Price of the Short Sale listing and this is the price they will accept and the home is usually well maintained and in most cases the best value for the buck.