Heather Peck Las Vegas Nevada Real Estate

Buyers ask me every day - Should I buy a bank owned property or a short sale?

My reply is, "it depends on your ultimate goal and how patient you are."

It's no secret that short sales take a long time. You put in an offer on a short sale and you wait. Hopefully the seller accepts your offer and it is sent on the to the lender, and you wait. After 30, 60, maybe 90 days you finally get a verbal response from the bank, which you must acknowledge and answer within 24 hours, sometimes less -- so you answer their counter, and you wait. (Hopefully you only have to wait for an approval from one lender, not two.) You finally get an accepted offer and signed contract from the bank's negotiator and open escrow, and you wait. Another 30-45 days pass while your loan finally gets processed, inspections are performed, documents are signed, loans are funded and the title company finally gets your deed recorded, and you wait. You wait until your agent calls and says "Congratulations, you closed, I have your keys."

When purchasing a bank-owned property, the process is usually much quicker. The asset manager at the bank already knows how much they're willing to accept and can accept an offer quickly. So you submit an offer, and usually have a response in a couple days instead of a few months. You open escrow and the process runs along just like with the short sale. Inspections are done, loans are approved and funded, documents are recorded and you finally get the call.

OK, so why would you buy a short sale instead of a bank owned property? A couple reasons. The seller is still in the picture in the short sale. They are required by law to tell you everything they know about the property, including completing a seller disclosure form that talks about broken switches, plumbing problems, nonfunctioning appliances and more. Banks are not required to tell you or provide you with any info about the condition of the property at all -- you hopefully discover everything you ever wanted to know by using a good home inspector. And you can often get a property that still has the appliances, etc. in the property and not have to replace everything the last occupant took with them, or appliances and fixtures that may have been stolen while the house stood empty, silently waiting for a new owner.

In Las Vegas, our market is very competitve for bank owned properties. It often takes multiple offers to finally get one offer accepted. However short sales have a little less competition because buyers don't want to wait for the process and agents don't either. I personally think you should choose the best property for you and not worry whether its a bank owned or short sale -- take advantage of the amazing prices right now and pick out a a great property that has everything you want it to.

Most of the agents I know have been moaning and groaning because there is no more Nehemiah. How are we ever going to get our qualified buyers to buy without down payment or closing cost money?

Well, here in Nevada there are several down payment assistance programs, or as I call them 'FREE MONEY'! Income based, your buyers can receive up to $10,000 to be used towards closing costs and/or down payments to buy a home. And the best part is credit requirements are very liberal, even under 580 scores.

How do I know this? Because I did what all agents should do, I went to a class where a presentation was made by a Bank of America loan officer who specializes in these types of down payment programs.

So don't just sit and say "Woe Is Me." Take advantage of this opportunity to help your clients buy a home and use FREE money to do it. For those of you in Las Vegas, free free to email me for my loan officer contact on these programs.

I'm sure if you ask ten different realtors what makes a property a good deal, you'll get ten different answers. Everyone has different priorities, sees the amenities and features differently, and pictures the yard and neighborhoods another way. Yet, everyone can usually agree on one basic thing -- if the price per square foot is a significantly under the price in the area and the property is in reasonably decent condition, its a good deal.

I have been doing research for some cash buyers and investors, all asking for great deals. In speaking with them, I ask them a variety of questions to narrow down what they feel is a good deal. The answers include desirable features such as a pool, certain neighborhoods, certain age, and top price. The one thing they seldom ask is when I send them properties, what makes them a great deal -- to me, it also has a lot to do with market value.

In 2005, if you could find a nice house under $150 a square foot, that was a great deal. You hoped the house would have enough square footage, a nice yard, and not need much if any work done to it to make it the house of your dreams. If you were lucky, it was newer with vaulted ceilings and close to great schools and shopping. Wow, what a difference 3 years makes.

Las Vegas has been on and off the top of the foreclosure market list, never being farther down than 5th. That's not a distinction we're particularly proud of, but we're trying hard to offer clients a great opportunity to take advantage of while they can. This, like all good opportunities won't last. So just for fun, I'm including a link to newer properties in a very desirable part of LasVegas known as Henderson that are $100 a square foot or under (almost all are bank owned foreclosures). If this is something you'd like to take advantage of, you should do it now while this opportunity still exists. This really won't last long.

http://las.mlxchange.com/Pub/EmailView.asp?r=747870569&s=LAS&t=LAS

By the way, these are NOT my listings, they're just really good deals.