Submitting an Offer or Getting Our #$%@ Together in No Time At All!

Getting the rehab estimate was our pre req to calling the bank about a short sale offer. We had an idea of how much it would cost to rehab the place but wanted a few professional opinions to confirm. Without a high repair value, we knew the bank would be reluctant to deal with us since the auction date is only a week away. While researching some questions that had arisen, my partner contacted MM, a friend of ours in the Nouveau Riche community. MM graciously offered to call the bank for us while we listened to give us a tutorial on how to speak with them.

After hours, and I do mean HOURS, of finagling the automated system, getting connected to the wrong person and sitting on hold only to land in a voicemail box we FINALLY got through to the guy in collections just below the loss mitigator who had been assigned our property. Mr. Collections advised us to submit an offer directly to the loss mitigator; not a short sale packet, but an offer, which consisted of the MLS standard purchase contract, a disclosure form and a cover letter with a brief paragraph explaining the situation and the home condition (since there was no hardship letter, estimates, or financial docs accompanying our offer).

MM generously assisted us with filling out the purchase contract, which he provided. He also informed us of the need to send along the disclosure, which he also provided, and suggested that we briefly explain the situation on the fax cover page. Talk about a wealth of information! We put an offer together in about an hour because of MM’s assistance and were able to submit it to the bank before the close of business. Without him it would have taken us a day or two simply because it was our first time and because we had anticipated submitting a complete short sale packet, which we had been preparing, but not the purchase contract only.

The only challenging aspect of submitting the offer quickly was that each page of the contract had to be initialed by the home owners, who were all the way in Oak Forest. Fortunately my partner had nothing scheduled for the afternoon and was able to drive out to them, get the signatures and fax it to the bank from the property.

When people talk about the value found in the Nouveau Riche community THIS is what they mean! MM asked for nothing in return; we thanked him profusely and he said, “I know you would have done the same for me”, which is true. Next time we do this it will be much easier since we now know what to do, but I’ll be darned if I could have figured that out on my own! I honestly do not know how people think they can go to the library and learn how to do a short sale on their own!

A few notes on the contract. We submitted an offer MUCH higher than we were willing to pay. We knew the bank had not done an interior BPO because we asked specifically when we spoke with Mr. Collections, therefore we knew they had no idea what poor condition the home was actually in. Since we did not have written estimates back from the contractors we felt offering $30k off the bat without justification would cause the bank to reject our offer without a second glance. Instead we came in at $68k, knowing we had an escape clause in the contract that the offer was contingent on further inspection. It’s paragraph 10 of the standard MLS purchase agreement just in case you were wondering;-)

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