Comments on: Unfair/Fraudulent sales tactics by REA/REO

By: tina

tina — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:28:09 +0000

i agree something fishy here when the house is pending when it just is day 1 at 7 am in the morning and i dont even get a chance to bid and its pending . are the rich investors paying off the realitors or what?

By: John

John — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 22:47:07 +0000

We just bid on an REO – cash offer, close in 30-days, ABOVE listing price. We had been advised that there was another bidder. After evaluating both bids, the bank (Regions) went back to the initial offer and solicited another higher bid from him … BUT, did not do the same for us. Then, when the other bid came in above ours, the advised the other bidder that they were approved on the property!!

There seems to be no regulatory group keeping these banks in line — they simply do what they want and take somewhat of a ‘tough luck’ approach on complaints.

By: Atlantagent

Atlantagent — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 19:38:44 +0000

Hopefully this helps. I too have submitted more than 50 offers from pre approved buyers attempting to purchase reos without acceptance. Most being at or above list price.
Keep this in mind while submitting an offer: A listing agent working for the bank/seller, must keep the listing active/available until he/she recieves a notice in writing from the seller. During this time many offers may come in. The bank/seller has no obligation to anyone looking until a binding agreement has been reached.( I believe some sellers are not interested in properties that have finance contingencies at all! Banks are notorious for denying properties at the last minute.)
Buyers must be aware that banks can not only deny the buyer, but also deny the property. This is especially true for FHA loans.
That being said buyers also do not have an accepted offer until binding agreement is reached and should always continue the search until written agreement is in hand and all contingencies are met.
I advise my clients of this before the process begins. I know what FHA is looking for in a home depending on what type of loan and will advise my client if I think FHA may have issue ( such as a vandalized property, missing HVACs roof leaks, missing components, etc…)
I will not let my client spend any money on a home(inspections/appraisals/ additional credit checks etc…) until we have binding agreement (after all negotiations have been made and agreed upon)
Get a good buyers agent who can prepare you ahead of time. Its always best to have a pre approval from a lender before the search begins. You can submitt an offer using your own pre-approval and have it written in offer that you will have the banks/seller lender once negotiations begin.
I too have wasted tons of time searching through properties listed as active/available and even called the agent to verify availability without a return call only to submit an offer and get a call days later stating a dif offer was accepted. Sucks!
While its true some agents are not ethical, most are only doing what the seller/bank requires them to do.
We are in a time unlike any before. We are working with banks not regular sellers who have no emotional attachments to properties.
When homes are listed and immediately under contract sometimes the bank may be in negotiations prior to home being on mls. (courthouse steps , offer submitted to asset manager, previous owner redemption period) Its all a pain!!!
Before submitting an offer have your realtor check the history of the home to see which bank owns it and if it was listed with a different agent. When listings are expired with one agent and goes to another, it comes back on the market as a “new” listing.
I hope this helps a little

By: Christopher

Christopher — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 18:01:02 +0000

Another tactic that is gaining popularity and is seemingly unchanging is the “phantom” multiple offer situation. Two separate offers we have made within the last month, on homes listed less than 24 hours, have come back with this delimma. The listing agent asking for our “highest & best” offer. Once the offer is submitted we get a verbal acceptance. The first time we lost the house to a better offer while they were waiting on addendums. This was part of the offer paperwork the had us complete. (1) This seems totally shady since you have no idea if there truly is another buyer. (2) Allowing for the additional time when we are offering more than the list price is absurd. (3) Finally we get a rate locked in, not paying cash on this one, and they take so long it actually goes up.
We have a pending deal on a house now and we have to get the contract into the lender today or the rate changes again. Fingers crossed since we already paid for the inspection. I will say that while Fannie Mae does not negotiate much on their property prices listed on Homepath.com they generally are quick to respond to your offer. The prices general drop every 30 days so just keep an eye out.
Good luck to all in the home search.

By: mike

mike — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:31:56 +0000

my god! I thought i was alone.

By: Carlos Arenas

Carlos Arenas — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 17:22:18 +0000

I too have been faced with the unfair manner in which banks are allowed to dispose of their forclosed properties and the cozy arrangements they have with their listing agents. So we know that the banks are inundated with foreclosedproperties and that theyhave to dispose of them as per Federal Govt. regulastions. OK, so why do they constantly play ther gimmick? I happen to be in a position to pay cash for mhy properties and I too have the same problems as I read on these comments. I find a house, I offer ALL CASH for their asking price and then I find that a sale is pending, or I get put on a list of bidders, and on and on and on and on.
If the bank haa a house for sale and they list it for sale, they should be able to sell it to the person that offers their asking price be it cash or finance. If the buyer is already pre approved for a loan,there should be no reson for the put off. SO, how de we form a very strong group and present these facts to our govt. representatives to see that this practice is stopped. Of is it possible that the government reps are n bed with these banks??? Write me, let me know your thoughts

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 00:05:12 +0000

I’ve just run into my 2nd REO deal with a broker that handles mostly these types of sales. He had me look at a house that was bank owed. The front door was open and hack-job work was being done on the home without a permit. After taking pictures and assessing the property, red flags because apparent. I know the town inspectors and they had told me no permits were pulled. Additional living space was added, fireplace closed up\abandoned, and new doors\windows. Now the bank owns this property and has pleaded completely ignorant to even owning it. I was told to go to the listing agent and given a story about the possibility of the property being sold. The property isn’t sold and hasn’t even hit mls. The REO agent has a sign on the door for potential investors like myself. I was able to walk through the house unassisted after the reo agent tipped me off that the back door might be open! Took pictures & assessed the site. Now the agent will not call me back to answer questions about closing up the fireplace and creating living space over a cracked foundation with no frost barrier. My gut tells me that this is not right. Bank is unaware or playing stupid, no permits, and agent is allowing renovations along with sneak peeks from potential buyers.

The problem is—all information was yanked from the bank owned web-site and phone calls have gone unanswered by the agent. This smells like a pocket deal and the Bank appears to be in on everything going on. I know banks sometimes will fix up a property before listing it on MLS. My concerns is that a ton of work is being done without any permits! So this cannot be legitimate.

So I researched another house in a different town, under the same reo agent, owned by a different bank. The agent promptly told that there was a cash offer and that i should waste my time. I’m a cash investor and that house is still sitting on MLS after two weeks. The agent candidly told me not to bother with submitting my offer. I contacted another agent to investigate further. That agent had many people walk through the property and word on the street was that it was sold—but he also question why it’s still on MLS. Then he shared with me the same kind of hack-renovation jobs that took place (same thing: abandoned closed up fireplace & severely cheap fixes). There is deffinitly something more going on with this agent who represents a bunch of banks on REO deals. I’m not sure if the banks are in on it or his reputation proceeds him in recovering more for the property while pocketing more on side.

This is a big waste of time for agents bringing clients to see REO homes and for investors or buyers interested in landing a good deal. You cannot win if the listing agent has already been showing the home to pocket investors for months while doing hack-job updates to increase potential sales.

WHAT can we do? I don’t think buyers understand enough to do anything! So far I’m alerting more legitimate agents in both towns about this particular reo agent. I will track and report any work without a permit. Next week I’m planning to take the town inspectors to lunch and enlighten them! I’m doing a lot of leg work regardless—so why not get something accomplished?!

By: Metric Mc Gillander

Metric Mc Gillander — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:44:12 +0000

To whom this concern
My father was murdered by the kkk on april 3
1967 in pineville Louisiana.On aug. 22 1967
the then mayor of pineville Floyd w. Smith
forced my grandmother to sell the 30 acers
to him she was 100 years old.The land belonged
to Linzy Mc Gillander she was his mother n law
with no right to sell,no title search,and it has been turned over so many times,in hope no
one tries to may this wrong right.

By: john T

john T — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:53:04 +0000

THEN LET’S DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.. GET THE WORD OUT!!! IM SICK AND TIRED OF THE REO AGENTS HAVING US JUMP THROUGH THEIR HOOPS AND CALL ALL THE SHOTS WHEN THE SALE GOES TO THEMSELVES OR THEIR GOOD OL’ BUDDY.
I JUST LOST MY SECOND MILLION PLUS BUYER TO AN REO AGENT BECAUSE WE’VE BEEN WRITING OFFER AFTER OFFER AND ALWAYS MISSING OUT, WELL MY BUYERS GOT SMART AND WENT DIRECTLY TO THE LISTING AGENT AND FIRST OFFER WAS MAGICAL …
IM SICK OF WHERE THIS INDUSTRY IS GOING!!
MY EMAIL IS JRT@RETOPAGENT.COM… SIGN ME UP FOR ANY GROUP THAT WILL COMBAT THESE AGENTS AND LENDERS!!!

By: ken

ken — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:04:22 +0000

Yes, my wife and I have run into simmilar problems. We have been looking for a house in Southern Cal (San Gabriel area of Los Angeles) We also are FHA approved and have the loan, each time we bid we provide a letter from the lender stating that they will fund the loan, Lately we run into banks that want us to become “pre-approved” with thier lender. This is rediculus and the only reason for it is a kickback to the banks or realtor selling the property. It should be illegal! The banks have now figgured a new scam, wait for months to list the property to keep the prices high, then when they do list it way below market for the area to create a bidding war. Then have them go through you lender to be approved and try to convince them that thier loan is better then the one they have so you can pocket more money!I wish someone would sue one of these realtors and banks and publisize it in the paper, news, what have you only then will these shenanigans stop.