Patience Really is a Virtue in The Foreclosure Market

Foreclosure, Forelcosure, Foreclosure… That is what buyers these days want. The problem is the best deals usually take the most amount of time. If your lucky you can pick up a bank owned property in Lake Havasu, write a contract, and close in 30-45 day but more often than not it takes longer. This is something that buyers need know. When dealing with a bank everything just takes more time. Right now in Lake Havasu 30%-40% of all homes sold have some sort of Dealing with a Bank.

First lets look at Short Sales or Pre-Foreclosure situations. A short sale is when a bank agrees to accept less the seller owes to sell the home to the new buyer and to not have to take possession of this home. These types of sitiatuations take the longest.The bank will usually aggree to take fair market value or a little bit less to not have to take the property back. This is time consuming on every front for both buyers and sellers. It take can take up two weeks just to get a response that they received the contract. It can take up to 3 months to hear if they have accepted the contract and can possibly take up to six months to close. This is generally worst case scenario and many of the banks are implementing great programs to help move these homes as quickly as possible. But be prepared that you could one of the few that takes several months to close.

Next, lets look at Foreclosed homes. These are homes that are already owned by the bank. This is also a time consuming process but usually a little bit less time consuming. The first thing you should know is it is all a process and a home has to transfer through it departments. For example, lets say your neighbors home is foreclosed on. The bank first takes it over and changes the locks, but then it has to go through the process. A home can be owned by the bank and not put on the market for several months because they might need to clean it up or clear up some of their own paperwork. Once it is put on the market is works like most home sales do. You find a house and submit an offer. Now they may make a counteroffer. This takes a little bit longer than a normal sale. It take up 2 week to get an offer. Then you are usally notified verbally that the bank has agreed. The bank sends special addendums out and the buyers signs them. This means you can move forward with inspections but you still probably won’t have an official contract signed by both parties. This will cause additonal worry and stress but it is pretty standard procedure. The problem you face not have a signed contract is that you can’t lock your rate on your loan. Once you get all the paperwork back the buying process moves pretty much on a normal pace.

Some of the best deals in Lake Havasu or Foreclosure and Pre-Foreclosure properties. With this information maybe you can eliminated some stress and have patience with the process. Knowing what your up against will help you to go in with your eyes wide open. If you would like any further information about Foreclosure and pre-foreclosures properties or a list of available properties please feel free to e-mail me at amber@havasuhomesource.com