A short sale is when the creditor will allow the debtor to sell off the mortgaged property for a lower price for the sake of saving it from foreclosure. However, even though a bank will process this, there is no necessary commitment by the bank to sell the house. When the bank completes a short sale they have to write off the difference between their loan amount and the lesser proceeds from the sale is something creditors want to avoid.
There is a provision in any short sale contract that has a contingency where the bank must approve the sale. In other words, the catch is this: if the bank persuades the seller to refinance the house, the bank doesn’t approve the short sale and the buyer gets their deposit back. After the offer is made, the bank may try to convince the seller to refinance their loan and stay in the house, and then the bank doesn’t have to take the write off.
The world of Las Vegas short sales and Las Vegas foreclosure is not easy. People do business with people they trust. What matters here is what is best for the buyer and the client and what will help create a long term relationship with the people you are working with.
Las Vegas short sales need a lot of patience and time to seal a transaction. It may take months for the lender to respond, and you should find someone who can help you that is very experienced in the industry.
A foreclosure is a property that the bank has already taken back through the foreclosure process. The owner has moved out and the bank holds legal title to the property. In some states the previous owner still has a “redemption period” to get the home back from the bank.
An offer on a foreclosure can take anywhere from one day to two weeks before a bank will accept it and usually 30 to 45 days from acceptance to close. A Las Vegas foreclosure is final and the bank can turn around and sell it right away.
It’s safe to say that prospective real estate clients may get better deals on Las Vegas condos and homes by targeting foreclosure listings. But buyers need to keep in mind that everyone is looking for those deals right now. Sales volume in Las Vegas in August and July was back up to 2005 levels, and most well priced foreclosures have multiple offers submitted. Most foreclosures are actually selling above the listed price, not below.
Buyers need to keep in mind that these foreclosures are steals to begin with. Then they need to have a savvy agent that can provide comparables so you can judge a home’s true worth. It’s not how much you can “get off” the sales price that counts - it is how much the winning bid is in relation to the home’s value. Buyers need to be patient and realize it might take anywhere from two to six offers to acquire the home of their dreams at the price they want to pay.
If you’ve searched for homes in the last little while, you’ve seen that Las Vegas short sales are everywhere. Those in the market for a property shoudl really look at a Las Vegas foreclosure.
