Hi April,

As a disclaimer, I would also like to say that I am a realtor, not an attorney, so cannot interpret contracts. With that being said, my experience with bank-owned properties has taught me several things.
1. The bank is in charge, not the buyer.
2. The bank's addendum usually says that it overrides all previous agreements
3. Patience is needed at all times.
4. Did I mention the word "patience" yet?
As a general rule, if the bank is the one who caused the delay in closing, they USUALLY are quite agreeable to filling in -0- in the penalty space. I have pushed the envelope several times when they insisted the buyer would have to pay, but I kept filling in -0- in that spot and they finally agreed. The banks like to play hardball, but if your agent sticks to their guns SOMETIMES it turns out okay. I had an experience recently where the roof certification came back negative, so the FHA loan could not go through. The bank said "forget it" when I asked them to fix the roof or extend time for a 203K renovation loan. We asked for a termination of agreement and they agreed, and gave the earnest money back after I kept filling in -0-. A month later they were calling to see if my buyer is still interested.

Nothing is written in stone when it comes to REO properties, but your agent must really be on the ball and willing to fight for you. As I said, the banks are in charge, not the buyer, but sometimes there is actually a human being looking at these offers. That helps. I have always said that my number one job in any transaction is to "remain calm at all times". But I'm not afraid to "calmly" tell a bank that we will not accept their terms.

Best of Luck and Warm Regards,
Dee Nofziger, Realtor
Danberry Co., Realtors

http://www.trulia.com/profile/findahometoledo

April,why was an exstension done,and I find it strange that they would even ask you if you were still interested? banks dont do that.I would call your local board of Realtors and run it by them.

GO Mudhens,

TJ

I have to agree with Chad Boyer's answer that as Realtors, we can't intrepret the contract and for that you should have an attorney look at it to give you the right answer.

The reo sellers have been doing some strange things regarding contracts. I've had the Toledo Board's standard contract come back unsigned along with a signed seller's addendum. When I ask the listing agent for a signed Toledo Board contract, the lister tells me that the seller has stated that "we don't sign those". So in my mind (as a non- attorney) I have to wonder how can we have a binding contract with only an addendum signed, but not a contract referring to the addendum? Does an addendum need to be an addendum to a signed contract?

The verbal negotiations leave plenty of room for error as well! Can you imagine making an offer on a house you intend to use as, say, a rental property and after some verbal negotiating you say "fifteen thousand is my highest and best offer" and then are shocked to find that someone misunderstood and the seller's addendum comes back stating your offer as "fifty thousand"? (now, can you imagine not reading the paperwork and actually SIGNING the addendum with that incorrect language?)

Having said all that, I think if I had been a buyer in a similar situation as yours, I would have insisted that a new purchase agreement be submitted at the time they asked i f I was still interested.

But too late for that now.

I think it's in your best interest to contact an attorney and if all is well, at least you have the peace of mind of knowing that all is well. But at the same time, if something is amiss, your attorney may be able to save you from making an expensive mistake.

Best of luck!

April,

I'm sorry to hear of the troubles you've encountered in this purchase. My recommendation to you is to talk to a real estate attorney. As agents, we're not allowed to interpret the legal meaning behind contracts, otherwise if we're wrong we can get into a heap of trouble.

One thing that I'm not understanding is that if the offer was originally accepted and addendum signed, why did the bank come back to you to see if you still wanted to buy it? You had already signed the purchase agreement, so I guess I would assume that you still wanted to buy the property. Strictly as a guess (and without knowing all of the details), I would think that if the bank caused the delay in closing that they shouldn't charge you the fee. If the delay was caused by you, then the fee would be assessed. Again, consult an attorney if the fee is brought up to make sure everything is correct.

Good luck to you.