REO FAQs in Las Vegas

What is an REO property?

This term stands for “Real Estate Owned”. It refers to an accounting line item on a companies asset information. It is property that the company owns, or is holding as an asset. In this case the bank owns the property. We can easily determine what the bank paid for the property by looking up the tax record and looking at the last sale amount.

How low of a price is the bank willing to go?

Not that low as most people think. The bank knows from experience that if they offer the property at a reasonable price or just slightly below market value (depending on the condition of the home) they will invariably get an offer at or close to what they are asking in a reasonable amount of time. You can offer as low as youwish, but the bank will often ignore “low ball” offers and in fact are not required to even give a response back to the buyer at all. My suggestion is to make your best offer if you want the bank to accept your offer or at least counter it. Just a statistical fact to give some food for thought, Las Vegas homes typically sell for around 97% of the asking price.

What is the bank purchase addendum?

The addendum takes the place of the initial purchase agreement. Basically the bank will re-write the entire contract in terms that they are willing to accept. There is no exception to this rule. They pretty much take a “tough tooshies” approach. If you don’t like the addendum, don’t write the offer.

How long does it take to get a response after I put in an offer?

Typically it takes about 1 week. The offer goes to the asset manager who generally has a couple of hundred files that he or she is managing, so it takes a little time. If the offer is in an acceptable range, he will in turn take it to his supervisor for approval or to issue a counter offer.

Can my buyer ask for closing costs?

Yes, you can ask for closing costs. You can ask for anything, as you would on any other property. The best strategy to get an approval though, is to make the offer as "clean" as possible.

Can we do an inspection?

Yes you can have a home inspection. It is best to accomplish this within 10 days of acceptance, as this is what the bank usually allows.

Do we have to get a certain bank pre-approval?

In short, YES! If you want your offer to be contingent upon financing, then which ever bank owns the property requires that you get pre-approved with that bank. However, you don't have to use that bank's financing, but at the very least you have to get a pre-approval from a local branch. Even if you have a pre-approval from another lender, this is still required. Basically this can be done with a 15 minute phone call and authorization to pull credit. Pretty painless. When you provide a Bank Pre-Qual Letter ahead of time, it also makes the negotiation process go much faster and smoother with the bank.

Why does the bank require their own pre-approval sometimes?

They want to make sure it is a qualified buyer. They do not know every mom and pop mortgage broker out there, and how experienced they are in lending. You could provide us a pre-approval letter from XYZ mortgage, but for all the bank knows it could be a brand new brokerage working their first deal, and would completely botch the file. Again, we are only talking about a 15 minute phone call. Contact the appropriate lender, listed below for a quick and easy over-the-phone pre-approval.

What does "as-is" mean? Why is there no S.R.P.D.?

The properties were obtained through process of foreclosure and as such, the seller is not required under Nevada law to provide an SRPD if they get the buyer to waive the requirement. The property is being sold as-is, “what you see is what you get”. There is no guarantee of condition of property as the seller has little or no direct knowledge about the property.

Real Estate Las Vegas - Michael Campbell is the professional, honest, and experience Real Estate Consultant you can trust!
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