REO listings - joy or torture?

Ok, I have to admit. Until recently, I have been your typical buyer's agent. Just a little bit jealous of the REO specialists out there who seem to sell bank owned listings with very little effort. Meanwhile I'm running all over town showing homes that are already under contract, but still listed as active, and being outbid on the few that were still available. I began to get a bit prejudiced against the bank owned listers.

As a surprise blessing I was offered a REO listing in my own Gilbert zip code, about a month ago. I had been doing free BPO's for an organization and they did send me a listing. I was overjoyed, at first. The commission is lower than what I usually get for most of my listings, but I assumed "no problem, should sell quickly and painlessly". Well, we all know not to assume.

I learned all about re-keying, checking for occupancy (how do you do that?!!), assessing value, discerning any potential repairs needed, or sales challenges, waiting on the seller's approved listing price and then the regular listing process.

Over the next month we had numerous showings and received 8 offers. I submitted all of these to the seller, presented the counter offers back to the buyer's agents and none of them worked out. Finally we have a solid buyer and are working our way through the escrow process. Some HVAC work was needed, as discovered during the home inspection, so I learned about the "submit 2 bids and proof that it's a seller needed repair" process. Know many HVAC technicians who love going out to a house to bid a repair for free? Miraculously I was able to get approval and the repairs done the same day.

We're now waiting on the appraisal (the last potential disaster) before closing in a month. The home stretch!

Although not a closed transaction, I have to admit it's been educational. I'm sure as I go along and (hopefully?) get more REO listings I will smooth out the bumps and get better at the unique REO process. It certainly is more challenging than it appears on the surface. My hat is off to those who manage numerous listings and successfully close them, while maintaining their sanity! My apologies for assuming your job was easy, and KUTGW!