Short sales and foreclosures hurt BUYERS too.

The BBQ Pit
1

This is an often overlooked aspect of the short sale/foreclosure happy market out there right now. Believe it or not there are a fair number of people, with cash in hand and financing secured, that just want to buy a nice house in a nice area but are unable to because so many fucking houses are short sales and/or in foreclosure. How is this you ask?

Well, if you live in Chicago and want to buy in Chicago you have time to fuck around and wait while the bank jerks you around and drags their feet trying to figure out if they will take whats being offered or not but if you live in Chicago and are trying to buy a house in Florida because your job is moving you on a specific time table you just don’t have time to wait 4-6 months to see if your offer is even in the ball park.

This is stemming from my impending military move, along with the moves of many of my friends. We are all moving at the same time this summer and have experienced the same fucking issue in 5 different areas of the country. We all have financing and $$ in hand, but ALL of the housing that is in decent areas are locked up looking for short sales or are falling into foreclosure so none of us can buy any of these houses.

For instance I’m trying to move down to work at Cape Canaveral this summer in Florida. My wife and I went down to look around the Melborne/Viera/Rockledge areas to try to find suitable 4 bedroom housing for our family. Money is not an issue in the sense that we have financing secured and a cash pile we’ve been saving to put down. Well, in the Viera area unless you are looking for a $400k or $120k house you are fucked because everything on the market is a short sale. Lots of 4 bedroom houses with pools that we would be very interested in buying for at or near asking price but we fucking can’t because they are all short sales and won’t close any time in the near future if at all. All of the houses that are straight sales are snatched up immediately because the market of actual available houses is red hot. This is REALLY aggravating. We never imagined we would end up in Florida of all places with money to spend on a house but nothing to buy.

The whole thing is fucked and aggravating. Banks need to speed this shit up for christs sake.

2

For the benefit of non American readers, what is a “short sale” and why does it prevent someone from buying a house?

3

… For the benefit of American readers, what is a “short sale” and why does it prevent someone from buying a house?

4

In a situation where a borrower owes more then their house is worth the bank can agree to the sale of the house and forgive the difference. The problem is that the bank has to approve any offer made before the sale can go through. This means that you can make an offer and wait for months for your offer to go through the banks red tape and learn if it has been accepted or not. For some reason banks do not seem to be all that motivated to make this a quick process

5

A short sale is what happens when you can’t sell the house for enough to pay off your mortgage. You list it for less than your loan amount and the bank eats the difference. The hold up is that the bank must approve the sale (which takes forever, if it happens at all). Often the bank winds up foreclosing on the house, even if there are short sale offers pending.

Been there. Commiserate.

ETA: What Miltonyz said.

6

While I sympathize with your situation, perhaps the banks want to minimize the amount of money they are losing. I would.

7

It took me 11 months to buy my first house. It was foreclosed, and had been sitting empty for 2 years, all the while losing money for the bank. But they still dragged their feet. It’s not unusual if you’re buying something from a bank, which is essentially what a short sale is.

8

Cubsfan. if you’re only going to be in Florida for a few months, why not just rent a condo and keep the Chicago house?

9

I think he said he didn’t want to dick around for several months, but he didn’t really say how long he was going to be there.

10

How about you let him tell us?

11

Touchy, aren’t we. Or did you think that my post would somehow prevent the OP form further elaborating?

12

Instead of asking rhetorical questions, why don’t you let ElvisL1ves elaborate further?

:wink:

13

How about you let him respond?

14

Hmmm… How 'bout we get clairobscur and smiling bandid to first collaborate on a response, then have them PM it to TriPolar, who will then respond for koeeoaddi!

15

I think this thread is going really well so far.

16

My guess is it’ll last longer than the bank in the OP, what with it’s poor judgement for lending and its unwillingness to cut losses.

17

Why would you say something like that?

18

4 year tour down there. I currently live in DC. Trying to move down there July 1st.

I have no problem with the banks trying to minimize their losses. Thats fine. But for fucks sake it doesn’t take long to say yes or no to an offer. As far as I’m concerned people should be able to get an amount approved by the bank before advertising it as a short sale.

I’m looking for some killer steal of a deal. I’m trying to pay a decent price for a decent house and the market doesn’t want to sell to me.

19

Why isn’t your broker showing you pre-approved short sales? Short sales that have been pre-negotiated close as quickly as a regular purchase.

20

The problem that created this mess was banks rushing through approvals. The pendulum has swung the other way. Bummer you got caught in that, but it’s a natural response to a financial disaster.