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A question I seem to get quite a bit these days from my clients is \” What is the difference between short sales and REO\’s?\” I then , usually, go into a whole explanation of the pro\’s and con\’s of each, and end up telling them that REO\’s are superior in every way. I have a couple of dealings over the past couple of months that really bring this point home.

The first case involves a really neat family I have been dealing with for over a year. They are from North Hollywood and have wanted to buy a place up here for a long time. When we initially looked, we couldn\’t find anything that really fitted their needs. They decided to wait a year and then take a look when the prices had really dropped.

Recently, I took this same couple on the hunt again, and they finally found a cabin that they felt was perfect for them. The cabin sat on a beautifully Oak Tree serene setting, and was impeccably clean. The asking price was a $149,000, but well worth it. There was one problem with the cabin, and that was that it was listed as a short sale. I did of course explain to the couple the hassles that typically come along with buying a home on a short sale, but they were so smitten with the property, they were willing to take their chances.

We had waited about a month, and still hadn\’t heard back from the bank. In my mind I already knew the selling agent hadn\’t done his part to get the process going to complete a short sale. I informed my clients that our only choice now was to wait for a response from the bank. About another month or so went by before the selling agent informed me that the bank pulled the listing without giving a response to our offer.

Which just goes to show you that short sales can be very unpredictable. I am sure this saga will continue…

Article submitter Marie Strahg has much experience shopping a Big Bear, CA foreclosure and Big Bear realty overall. Read more of her articles on the web.

One of the benefits of the market being in decline is the mass exodus of bad agents. If you are a buyer or a seller, the odds are much better now that you will get a competent agent to represent you. Unlike days past when an agent just had to sit by a phone to do business, today\’s realtor actually has to work his or her tail off to be successful. That being said, you still need to be careful.

There is still the part time agent that is out there just to make a sale a few times a year for some extra cash. The cashier at the local grocery may take advantage of a not so up-to-date client in order to make some extra money. Even an utility worker in your town may try to pass himself off as a full-time realtor. In cases like this, they are more hurting their clients than helping them.

Obviously, the market has changed quite drastically over the last few years, and business doesn\’t operate the way it used to. Bank owned properties make up 10% of the inventory and 40% of all the sales in my home town. If you find yourself involved with a realtor that is not on the up and up when it comes to REO\’s and short sales, you may find yourself in not so good of a situation.

Here is a perfect example from my last escrow transaction. I had some clients that made an offer on a property that was out of our area. We of course held up our part of the bargain, and then sat back and waited to hear that the escrow was opened. In the last twenty sales I have had in the last year or so, there is almost always a complication with the bank opening escrow in a timely manner.

To make a long story short, after weeks of no response to my pressings, the bank finally admitted to me that they had accidentally filed the paperwork with the wrong office. And to add insult, they suggested that we could still be liable for the delay. I turned it all around, but some people are just gone terrible with details. I think I am getting too old for this business!

Had I not known what I have learned from all my experience with REO\’s, this could have gone really bad for my client. Less-experienced realtors are dangerous in these types of situations. So protect yourself and only work with someone who works in realty full time.

Author Steven Blagow is a professional Big Bear, CA foreclosures realtor and an expert in resort area realty. He is in fact one of the top Big Bear, CA houses realtors in his field.

Recently I got into a bit of a hassle with some REO per diem ridiculousness and delays. I thought it might help someone out there to share a bit of the details.

Fearing that the problems would escalate if we didn\’t proceed with the offer, we kept up our part of the offer on the cabin. Thank goodness for my experience in situations like this. From having dealt with situations like this with clients of mine before, I know that it is best to stay calm, keep up your part of the deal, and not to get worked up about the bank.

Getting out of paying for that per Diem is as simple as keeping on track and proving the delay was not of our doing. I stayed on top of the inspections making sure they were completed in a day period, and that my Realtor had the termite inspection done as well. Luckily since my client is purchasing this property with cash, we did not have any issues with the appraisal. It works a little differently if someone is buying a house with a loan from the bank, because you need to be in direct contact with the lender the whole time making sure an appraisal is completed on time.

If at all possible, you do not want anything going wrong in the last moments. Things typically will not always go completely the way you would like them to, but as long as you do everything you are required to do, they will turn out just fine. Most banks don\’t have the ability to know what is going on every step of the way. It always appears that they kind of just hang around waiting for something to happen.

It hasn\’t been uncommon for me in the last few years to witness banks doing something that is just out of sorts. You will rarely find a bank transaction that actually goes all the way through the process without a glitch. The key it to hire a bright, informed realtor to help you have a successful experience.

Author Info: Daniel Thuster has much experience shopping Big Bear, CA foreclosure deals plus Big Bear realty overall. Check out his other posts online.

A little while ago, some clients of mine made an offer on an REO. Everything seemed to be proceeding according to plan.

So, after a week went by I wasn\’t too concerned. After almost two weeks went by, I became alarmed. I called and emailed the listing agent two or three times a day for three days without receiving a response. I finally had to call his broker and demand that someone who was competent be put in charge of the deal. I was given an assistant who seemed to have some idea of how things worked.

Finally, after almost three weeks, I was emailed an extension agreement that stated we were requesting an extension due to the listing office opening escrow with the wrong company and not realizing it for two weeks. Two weeks? If I hadn\’t called the broker with my concerns the listing agent would have just coasted along obliviously and incompetently until our deal crashed and burned.

I also have experiences that are the exact opposite. I sold a bank owned property a little while back that was listed by an agent in Lake Arrowhead. Like most bank owned homes, it took the bank longer than usual to open escrow, but everything else ran perfectly. She made sure I received regular updates and her assistant was on top of everything. I got all the paperwork on time and done correctly.

Because we both did what we needed to do , the transaction was very smooth and I was able to give my client excellent service. If you are considering buying or selling, ask the Realtor you are dealing with some qualifying questions before you proceed. Make sure they are a full time, professional Realtor and not a part timer. Make sure they have a good, working knowledge of the local market.

If you are planning on buying in Big Bear, it is a very bad idea to use somebody from L.A. or Orange County. If you are planning on buying a Bank Owned listing, it is especially important to use somebody who is experienced in selling them. The banks do thing very differently and a Realtor who doesn\’t know what they are doing can blow the deal or end up costing you a great deal of money.

Author M. Fetzer knows all about researching Big Bear, CA foreclosure deals and Big Bear realty in general. Check out his other articles on the internet.

Buying a bank owned (REO) property is a much different process than a traditional listing and it is imperative that your Realtor know the difference. If your Realtor is not aware of the differences, they could not only cause you to lose the property, but also cost you money in the process. Let me explain.

Banks have complete control when it comes to a bank owned property. They make their own rules and follow no disclosure requirements. Typically they will have a potential client sign something called an addendum, which basically takes away the protections a buyer may have, and gives them sole power in the decision making.

They will give you a timeline you have to follow, or more likely then not there will be repercussions. They really unfair thing about it, is that they don\’t have to respond to anything or anybody until they are good and ready. For an example, I myself have a bank owned property being held in escrow at this moment, on which I was approved for well over a month ago. However, the bank didn\’t even open my escrow until almost three weeks into the thirty day stint.

It took a full three weeks before we received my contract and addendum. Not so lucky for us that when we first signed into this contract, it stated that we would be charged $100 per day per Diem for every day that went past the thirty-day period!

Then they did nothing on time to make it possible for us to make the deadline. As many of you know, the majority of short sales do not close successfully. This is usually due to the listing agent not knowing how to do them, but taking the listing anyways. If the listing agent doesn\’t put in all the work ahead of time, a short sale is a nightmare. REO\’s can be the same. In this case, the listing agent assured me that he had done all the footwork and the bank was ready to move.

Submitted by: Allen Fulton has much experience shopping Big Bear, CA foreclosures plus Big Bear, CA houses in general. Check out his other posts online.

So I was dealing with a short sale home and I knew for sure it wouldn\’t be a short sale for long…

I knew sooner than later, I would be seeing the home again as a bank owned listing. I told my clients to hang tight and that I would check the MLS everyday until it appeared. Sure enough, a week and a half later it came on The MLS for $130,000 as a bank owned property. I called my clients the minute I saw it and we wrote an offer for $115,000 cash.

The bank responded rather quickly with an offer of $117,000, and my clients joyously took them up on it. We also got lucky in the fact that the bank repaired the broken pipes underneath the house, and more then likely the original owner wouldn\’t have done the same. All in all, the bank did not follow through on the offer when it was listed as a short sale.

When the bank owned the property, we had the chance to buy the cabin for a better price and had the advantage of having some necessary repairs taken care of for us. Banked owned was the winner, short sale not so much. I had a very similar situation happen with a second family. This family made an offer of $340,000 for a property listed for a whopping $389,000. These clients also waited while the bank had the house reappraised and countless BPO\’s done.

After two months, the bank oddly enough rejected our offer, and let the house go in to foreclosure. Again I patiently watched and waited until I saw the house listed again, but for $390,000 this time around. My clients and I agreed that the house was quite a bit overpriced, and thought it better to wait to see if the price would come down at all. We waited two weeks, the price had not fell, and we felt it a perfect time to finally make an offer.

We came in at $333,000, and waited for a response from the bank. This time it took one day to get their answer, which was no. After a week of wrangling, we put the home into escrow for $339,000. So, we got a lower price in only a week when it was bank owned. Bank Owned Two, Short Sales Zero.

Submitted by: Stephaine Miller knows all about shopping Big Bear, CA foreclosures and Big Bear, CA houses overall. Check out more of her articles on the web.