I got a call a week ago from a Southeastern Michigan real estate buyer. He was all upset with a foreclosure agent.. He thinks the foreclosure agent never put the offer in.
I honestly don't know whether he did or not, but I always submit the offer no matter how crazy it isor how little it is. It's not my job to decide whether the seller will accept your offer. I have told clients that their offer would never fly, but still put it in. Sometimes the seller refused to negotiate other times they did.
As a real estate agent it is in our code of ethics that we must present ALL OFFERS.. I take that seriously. I many times drop what I am doing to get the offer in. It's not unusual for me to run to the office in the evening to complete the paperwork for my home buyers. Then I fax and email it to the sellers agent. ( I like to do both to make sure the listing agent doesn't try to say they never got it.)
But this got me to thinking..... did any of my clients ever think that? It's possible because sometimes the house sell for less than what we have put in.
1.) In fact I looked up a piece of Livonia real estate that we bid on in the fall. Our bid was $121,000 FHA bid. The house sold for $107,000 on a conventional loan. It was a highest and best offer situation on a Livonia foreclosure. The bank accepted a $14,000 lower bid. It was conventional loan with more money down. The house did need some minor repairs. The bank and the agent may have decided that they did not want to deal with FHA's required repairs.
2.) Another Livonia foreclosed homewas listed at $65,000. The house needed a roof. There was no way that it would ever pass an appraisal inspection. My clients thought was to put a roof on before the appraiser came by. We put an FHA offer of $81,000 in. We still LOST IT! This house sold for $55,000 cash. This was really a no brainer for the bank. They didn't want to put the time or money into putting a roof on. So they sold to a cash buyer instead a FHA buyer.
3.) Another home we put an offer in one had a renter in it. We put an offer in. It was never accepted. I has never shown up on the MLS as sold. The bank pulled the house back. Right now the banks are giving some consideration to people that are renting the homes. In this case they are probably working out some deal to get the renter to buy the home. My friend Larson did it. He was living in a home that was in foreclosure. He contacted the bank and they let him rent for a year. And then did a FHA mortgage for him after a year. The bank helped somebody that needed a hand.
So the bottom line is that yes banks make some strange decisions and accept lower offers. But I think most agents put your offer in, even though it may not make sense why it wasn't accepted.
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