Ft. Lauderdale Foreclosures

NOTES TO BUYERS REGARDING FORECLOSURE PURCHASES

• The Bank is responsible for paying Brokers’ Commissions (You, the Buyer,are not responsible for paying Brokers’ Commissions). With non-Foreclosure AND Foreclosure purchases, the Homeowner/Seller, NOT YOU, is responsible for paying Brokers’ Commissions.
• Athough there is more Ocean access Waterfront in Ft. Lauderdale than in any other City in America, the Geographic area of Broward County is very large and Waterfront Ocean Access Homes are not the majority of the Homes that exist, nor are they the majority of the inventory of Homes for Sale, nor the majority of the available Foreclosure inventory. That being the case, the demand for Waterfront Foreclosures exceeds their supply, so if you’re only interested in Waterfront Foreclosures, the available Inventory for you to select from is considerably more limited than that of non-Waterfront Foreclosures.
• Procrastination isn’t to your advantage when it comes to great Foreclosure deals. Great Foreclosure deals usually receive multiple Offers simultaneously and are not listed for sale very long before being purchased. Most in our local area are purchased within 30 days or less.
• Multiple Offers are submitted simultaneously to the Bank for the same property and priority is not given based on when the Offer was submitted. The Bank will request your “highest and best Offer”. Multiple Offers and “Bidding Wars” for Foreclosure deals are standard. Most Bank Owned Foreclosures are purchased for prices that are equal to or above their list prices, so submitting lowball Offers is usually a non-productive activity.
• I am often asked how much less than the List price should be offered for a Bank Owned Foreclosure.  Because of multiple Offer situations with desireable Foreclosure properties, my advice is to place an Offer that’s equal to the List price or slightly above the List price IF you are truly serious about owning the property and want your Offer to be the one that’s chosen.    Typically, the List price is already discounted below market value anyway.  For Bank Owned properties that are far less desireable so far as condition and location and have been listed for sale for a longer than average period of time, it’s more likely that a slight discount might be considered by the Bank.
• As with a non-Foreclosure purchase, you will still need to obtain Loan Pre-Approval prior to searching for a Home. This assists us with searching for and viewing Homes that are within the correct price range. Additionally, the Pre-Approval Letter must be submitted with your Offer. Your Pre-Approval Letter is required to be dated within the last 30 days, so if you have an old Pre-Approval Letter, please get it updated first. The Approval Letter is also required to indicate that your Credit Reports have been checked and state your current Credit Score.
• If the purchase will be Financed, the amount of your Down Payment will need to be determined.
• A “Good Faith” Deposit has to be submitted when your Offer is accepted and the Bank that owns the Home will specify the required amount of your Deposit.
• The Bank will require that you provide documentation (Bank Statements, etc.) along with your Offer that verifies that you have sufficient Cash to close the transaction (Closing Costs).
• If your purchase will be a Cash purchase, you will need to obtain documentation from your Financial Institution verifying your ability to purchase the Home that you’re planning to place an Offer on (and this documentation is required to be submitted with your Offer).
• Some Banks will require that you complete Loan pre-approval through them even though you already have your own Pre-approval (you will still be using a Lender of your choice, but they just want to verify the validity and strength of your Approval).
• The Bank uses current Market Values and other criteria as part of the process for determining a Home’s discounted List Price, so the amount they will agree to accept for the Home’s purchase is often very close to the Listed price (when they list property for sale, the List Price ALREADY includes the discount that they’re offering and the List Price is usually already significantly below current Market Value for similar property).   This being the case,  Lowball Offers are usually rejected.  In multiple offer situations for great Foreclosure deals, properties often end up being purchased for a price that’s above the originally listed price.
• Foreclosures are sold “AS IS”. The Bank has already considered any repairs that might be necessary and has priced the property accordingly. They are offering the Property in its’ current condition, so your Offer and negotiation will not include requests for repair nor requests for price decreases based on the property’s condition.
• Some Foreclosure properties will require that you conduct the Home Inspection PRIOR TO placing an Offer instead of conducting the Home Inspection after your Offer has been accepted.
• The majority of Bank Owned Foreclosures listed through Brokers allow Buyers to Finance their purchase, but some specify that Financing is not allowed and that Cash Offers are the only ones that will be accepted.
• By limiting your search to Bank Owned Foreclosures only, it’s very possible that you could miss out on a non-Bank Owned Home that’s appropriate for your needs, so it’s wise to include non-distressed properties that are within your requested price range.

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