Central Oregon Real Estate | Broker Thesa Chambers, Licensed in Oregon

I love working with first time home buyers. The feeling through out the transaction all the way to closing and after is so rewarding. Today, a young couple I have worked with for 2 and a half years finally got an accepted offer on the perfect home. A bank owned, brand new never lived in 4 bedroom home.

This young couple has waited patiently - they have driven streets, they watch their email and they knew exactly what they could afford regardless of what they qualified for (lender would loan more than they wanted to spend).

We saw the home come on the market last month and made a low offer on it... we held our breath - the bank would not budge....they felt the activity they had would bring them a higher offer. Guess what - it did not, they had to lower the price.... and again we made a run at this home and again the bank would not budge.

Monday the home had yet another price reduction.... lower than what we had offered not once but twice.... and guess what we did not offer full price - and guess what - we got the house.

Patience, teamwork and persistence has paid off - I am thrilled - now to get through the Typical Central Oregon Contingencies. The Bank has already provided the septic info, well report and we are well on our way to a successful closing.

If you are ready to buy, just thinking about it, or not sure what you are looking for - sign up for your free listings.

Months ago I asked either here on ActiveRain or in another forum, how to get involved with listing bank owned homes. I really thought it would help my business and generate some sales, a a very wise agent, and I am sorry I do not remember who you were, told me you do not want to be known as the REPO agent find the buyers. Since then my business has been focused on finding buyers for bank owned properties. I am seeing some decent success at this niche market. Educating buyers to the fact that they do not have to use the listing agent - or what they call the bank's agent has been the biggest obstacle.

Many buyers believe they can not ask for repairs - this is untrue. Banks will not do the same repairs an owner occupied seller would but they will do some repairs. I have had banks agree to replace wall heaters, fix plumbing and replace septic systems.

Buying a bank owned home in Central Oregon can be frustrating, because the good ones generally sell quickly, they are priced right and clean. Most of my buyers know a home is coming on the market before the public. When you subscribe to my automatic listing program you will receive a copy of the listing about 24 hours before it hits the public sites.

If buying a bank owned home anywhere in Central Oregon is something you have considered sign up below, no obligation and no spam I promise.

Buyers today are in the drivers seat more than ever, we all know this and buyers are educated about it. However, when do you stop and say - ok. Every time a buyer or seller puts out a new offer or a counter offer they take the chance of the other walking away. We all have our bottom line and some of us do not want to move off that number.

But... Buyers and sellers are you risking the home of your dreams or the sale when you counter offer and are only a thousand or two apart? Is getting that additional $1000 going to make any real difference on your payment or what goes in the bank? Even if the answer is yes, every day that the negotiations go on is another day that closing can be delayed.

Today, the sad truth happened for one of my buyers. We were battling back and forth over the weekend over $2000 and the seller finally caved in... we got the house for the price the buyer wanted.... GREAT UH????

Not so fast... you see, Friday lending guidelines changed and the buyer no longer qualifies for this second home. So since the loan was not locked - the lender can not honor the program we planned to use. So everyone lost out over a $2000 difference, the buyer no longer qualifies for the loan and the seller is without a buyer...

Back to the Drawing Board all the way around, be certain you want to take that risk when you are so close, the outcome could cost you more than the difference.

January 1, 2008 House Bill 2592 will go into effect. What does this mean? For the out of state seller it means less money in the short run. If an out of state seller sells an Oregon property after January 1, 2008 new legislation will require a mandatory withholding for income taxes.

The withholding will be from the seller's proceeds at the time of closing. The 2008 sales agreement will have text that pertains to this and the new law.

What to expect - from looking over the bill which can be viewed at http://www.leg.state.or.us/07reg/measpdf/hb2500.dir/hb2592.intro.pdf I see it as you should expect to have 4% of the net proceeds or 10% of the gain for taxable income. Obviously it is much more detailed than this, please do read the bill so you know exactly what to expect regarding your own sales in Oregon.

This law is over a year old now and it still poses a lot of questions - the one thing that both REALTORS® and Title and Escrow have to continue to explain is that this is a withholding and not a tax.