C. Ray Washington

Go online and type in BPO. You will get hundreds of companies that are invloved in processing BPO's. When I started doing them about 9 years ago you could register directly with the banks. Now most banks use asset management companies and BPO mills like First American Residential Value View, Clear Capital, Old Republic, Broker Price Opinions and Mainstreet BPO. You probably won't get any listing through these guys, but they will start sending you BPO work right away. Good luck! - Fri Jul 18 2008, 21:58

That would be me! I live in Stockbridge, Ga. minutes from Covington. Contact me with the details. I am a real estate broker and auctioneer as well. - Fri Jul 18 2008, 21:52

A good resource is auctionzip.com, also you might want to get on the mailing list(s) of real estate auction companies in your area. - Fri Jul 18 2008, 21:44

I dd not say you were giving her legal advice. I said stop giving auction advice. A person with a professional license, ie... a real estate license, does not have an personal opinion. Whatever you say is the opinion of an expert! You keep up.... - Thu May 29 2008, 17:23

Ok Mike. I don't know if you are licensed to practice real estate in the state that this lady lives in, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that you are giving advice in areas that are well out of your depth! You obviously know little or absolutely nothing about "auctions." I am not an attorney, nor am I licensed to practice law. Therefore, I don't give legal advice.... If you don't have an auctioneers license, then you should stay out of the business of giving auction advice.

There are two basic type of auctions. One is an "absolute" the other is a "reserve." In an "absolute" auction the property must go to the highest bidder without regard to the value of the property or the price being offered.

In a "reserve" auction the seller is generally allowed to set a minimum bid he/she will accept. This "reserve" amount is generally not made know to the public. Guess which type of auction catagory a court ordered or forced sale wll generally fall in?

Second, if and when a bank or governement entity such as VA or HUD re-acquires a property via a foreclosure sale, the amount they list the property for on the open market, has absolutely nothing-what-so-erver to do with what is sold for at auction!

The list price is driven by "supply and demand" and what the markert will bear. One fact that seems to be over-looked in this dialog is the fact that when a property forecloses, whether a bank ends up with it or not, the previous mortgage is no longer a consideration. Simply because at foreclosure a mortgage is disolved, and the collateral and the value of that collateral is now the only consideration. A mortgagee may be held liable for any deficit balance on the debt.

Also remember that there is still the issue of the mortgage insurance (FHA) and (Conventional) and mortgage gurantee (VA) which give the lender the right to file a claim should the aucton bring less than what they need to get whole. So, long and short....you should not give advice in areas you are not qualified to give advice in!

The best thing this lady can do if she can't get a response on the offer she made a couple of months ago, it to contact the broker of that office and he/she will in turn 1) Secure her earnest money for her and 2) get her the answers she is looking for. They may or may not be the answers she wants, but I am confident that the broker will work hard to see that she gets at minimum those things.

If the broker fails to do this, my next reccommendation is that she contact the real estate commission in her state for further advice. And that my friend is the best advice that you, I or any other licensed professional can give her! - Thu May 29 2008, 16:22

That clears it up some. I practice in Georgia. It is a "non-judicial" state. That means that no court process is required to foreclose. Here all the lenders is required to do is to notify the mortgagee in writing, advertise for 30 days and take it to the court house steps. I am not certain how it works in your state. As far as contingencies go, if you need to get financing, you have atleast two contingencies. One is financing. As most lenders require a current appraisal, your second would be that the property appraises for atleast the purchase amount. Again, as I said, I am not certain of your states particular process--but I doubt that not being able to contact the occupants will be enough to stop the foreclosure process. I know that you want this house. My reccomendation to you though is to get your earnest money back first, and either find another house, or if you can, wait to see if this one comes back on the market after it forecloses. - Tue May 27 2008, 21:10

In reading your post again, it seems the property had a "published" foreclosure date and you were trying to purchase this property prior to it actually foreclosing. A bank will generally not postpone a published foreclosure date on the off chance that an offer may or may not close. Especially one that has a contingency, ie one contingent on buyer obtaining financing or an appraisal ect...

You might want to have your agent check to see if it has foreclosed since your offer was made. A foreclosed property does not always come back to the office that may have had it listed prior to foreclosure. In any event I still reccommend you contact the broker of the office holding your earnest money. He or she should be able to give you the current status of your earnest money, and quite possibly the status of your offer as well. - Tue May 27 2008, 15:55

My point was to explain the short sale process, not to get into an arguement. Mike is right. Your offer has probably already expired, as far as your earnest money, if the check has not been cashed, no big deal. If it has, then call the broker of the office and request a refund. - Mon May 26 2008, 12:36

Generally the real estate agent is required by law to present any and all written offers or expressed interest in a property. In the case of a bank foreclosure, pre-foreclosure or short sale, other than providing local market data, the agent generally has little or no say in the final decision.

I know that there is a lot of buzz about "short sales." After many years of working as an REO broker I am convienced that there is a great deal of "mis-information" and myths circulating about "short sales."

First and most importantly, a property is worth what it is worth. I know that we have all types of sceintific approaches, formulas and the like. But generally speaking a property's true value at any given moment in time is what a ready, willing and able buyer is willing to pay and what a seller is willing to accept. That value often changes from one buyer to the next, from one day to the next, or even from one offer to the next.

Second. There is nothing that say's a bank or any other seller is required to sell a property for less than the current asking price or what they feel the property is worth.

Having said all that. Here are the basics steps involved in a short sale offer, and I want you to know that this is generally not a one or two process. Due to the steps that have to be taken this process sometimes takes 1-2 weeks or more. Understanding that most mortgages are not serviced by the actual investor or bank--it should be clear that once the agent presents the offer, it may have to go through a loan servicers collections department, then to the loss mitigation department, then to the actual lender and maybe even repeat that process before it even gets to someone or a department that can actually make a decision. The process does not stop there though, so let's look at the basic (minimum) steps that are involved in this process;

1) A buyer submits a witten offer, with proof of funds or qualification along with earnest money.

2) The listing agent processes and forwards that written offer and documentation to the seller. In this
case let's assume the seller is a bank.

3) Before responding the seller usually orders two to three independent opinions of value. This is done
either through full blown appraisals or broker price opinions or BPO's. This process alone can cost
several hundred to a thousand dollars or more. The seller usually has to bear t his cost, because at
this point you the buyer has absolutely zero dollars invested in the process so far!
All you have tied up in the process is some time an offer or letter of intent, your earnest money check
hasn't even been deposited yet.

4) After arriving at what they feel is the current market value, the projected seller's net and other seller
specific considerations, the seller will generally do one of three things;

a) accept the offer as presented
b) reject the offer
c) make a counter-offer

I will tell you that if your offer is ridiculously low, or you have requested unreasonable concessions, most sellers won't take you serious and will generally out-right reject your offer! Make no mistake about it, in today's market there are many well qualified buyers who are making fair offers and getting good values.

Another thing I want you to consider. If you are looking to purchase single family houses with the buy low or "low ball" and sell high mentality, I will submit to you that you are merely a spectulator and not a true investor. If this is your strategy I would suggest that you become more knowledgable with the capitol gains tax laws and rules.

I'm not being critical of your strategy, I am simply suggesting that there is a better way to invest in real estate. True investors take a more long term view and approach. They position themselves to take full advantage of the tax laws as part of their overall strategy. True investors invest for income, appreciation and tax advantages.


Ray~ - Sun May 25 2008, 11:53

Great outfit. They have been in the auction business since the 80's. Back in the days of the resolution truct corporation. - Sun May 25 2008, 12:38