Question by Christi: Anyone familiar with Short Sales?
Ok…we made an offer and the seller accepted, now we are waiting on bank approval. The new deadline (bank asked for a 2 week extension) is tomorrow. Our agent called me yesterday and told me all the bank was waiting on is a 2nd BPO, but that the listing agent told her the lender liked the numbers and it was looking good. Then she told me that the house is scheduled for a share of sale auction on 4/27!! and the only way to halt that auction is to have a buyer for the home! So, does that basically mean if the bank does not approve the sale by the 26th then that’s it, no house? How long does it take to get a BPO after it is ordered? and if they already have one, why do they need another? and does the listing agent really have that info, that the bank likes the offer? This is very frustrating…help, anyone?

Best answer:

Answer by I Buy And Sell Houses
Clarification: You refer to a “share of sale auction.” That’s “sheriff’s sale auction.”

Short sales are very frustrating. Your agent should have informed you of that.

That information is correct. If the house is sold at auction, then it goes to whoever bought it at auction. And if you’re not bidding on it at the auction, then it’s not yours. No house.

The only way to stop the sale is to make up all the delinquencies. That can be done by the original owner, or a new purchaser can come in.

Getting the BPO itself isn’t difficult. The difficulty is getting the lender to act once it receives the BPO.

Think of it this way: The fate of the house is like having two parallel train tracks. There’s a train on each track. One is the short sale track; the other is the foreclosure track. They’re both going along at the same time. Whichever one reaches the station first “wins.” You’re on the short sale track. But if the foreclosure/auction occurs first, you unfortunately lose.

Why do they need a second BPO? Because they don’t have enough confidence in the first one. They’re worried that the first one is too low, and that the house may actually be worth more than the first BPO and worth more than what you’ve offered.

It’s impossible to say whether the listing agent really “knows” that the bank likes the offer. But it doesn’t matter. Someone in the bank doesn’t have enough confidence in your offer and the BPO to accept it.

Hope that helps.

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