Last night I received a great phone call; it was from a REO (lender owned) listing agent !  An actual phone call !

Now, you may ask ‘why’ getting a phone call from and REO lender was the good news? The reason is that many REO real estate agents do not answer their phones. In fact, many have dedicated voicemails with standard messages that ask buyers to communicate via e-mail only the message also indicates that MLS listing information is current; this is done primarily due to the influx of calls and questions that cannot be answered ethically such as what does my offered need to be for the bank to accept it.

Actually, the good news was that who called to tell me my buyer’s offer was accepted. further, this lender owned real estate agent took time out of his day to complement me. Of course, I asked him to do so in writing so that my clients and you would believe me

The agent told me that there were four total offers and the bank selected my buyers offer even though there were two other offers that were slightly higher in price. The bank chose to go with my buyer due to the outlined terms in our response to the banks ‘highest and best’ offer  request:

• my buyer chose to go we’ve conventional financing instead of FHA financing
• my buyer increased their earnest money from $2000-$5000
• we reduced the inspection. Contingency from 10 days to seven days
• close of escrow was reduced from 40 days to 30 days

Additionally, I added a note personalizing the offer indicating to the seller that this house was for a young couple whose family lives in the nearby vicinity and this is where my buyers wanted to start a family. This is important as many buyers are using FHA financing in order to buy properties with little money down and fix up the homes and sell them for profit not to live in them.  Banks much prefer that if you’re buying a house is to make it a home.

All of these tips and tricks are not actually smoke and mirrors. They have important financial implications to the seller. Shorter time frames reduce financial exposure making the ability to close escrow much more certain; Remember, lender owned real estate is real estate that lenders do not want to own.

If you can give the bank more confidence that your offer will close, you will have a much higher probability of getting your offer accepted. Please note, this tactic is second to the amount of money the bank will receive an offer. What do I mean? If offers are within a few thousand dollars of each other a bank will accept a lesser price offer if it is more certain of closing. However, the bank will not accept offers with a great disparity in price. So, if your offer is $20,000 less even though you are offering the above terms, it is unlikely the bank owned real estate seller will accept that offer.

If you have questions about the bank owned real estate process or are interested in buying lender owned real estate or would like to discuss how to make offers that are appealing to asset managers and all real estate sellers, please call me at 480-298-0133.

Kellen@KellenBritt.com, your lender owned real estate expert in Phoenix

Please look at our Phoenix real estate best buys and are Scottsdale lender owned real estate of the day:

Showing properties 1 - 5 of 88. See more 85028 zip code real estate.
(all data current as of 5/17/2012)

1. $329,900 : 2734 E Altadena Avenue, Phoenix
   
   4 beds, 3.00 baths

   Home size: 2,347 sq ft

   Lot size: 10,440 sqft
   
2. $217,500 : 4108 E Alan Lane, Phoenix
   
   3 beds, 2.00 baths

   Home size: 1,530 sq ft

   Lot size: 7,101 sqft
   
3. $179,000 : 3946 E Altadena Avenue, Phoenix
   
   3 beds, 2.00 baths

   Home size: 1,701 sq ft

   Lot size: 9,290 sqft
   
4. $650,000 : 2202 E Mountain View Road, Phoenix
   
   4 beds, 2.50 baths

   Home size: 3,280 sq ft

   Lot size: 19,693 sqft
   
5. $525,000 : 3310 E Eva Street, Phoenix
   
   5 beds, 3.50 baths

   Home size: 3,266 sq ft

   Lot size: 12,834 sqft
   

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.