Colorado Springs Vintage Homes Blog

Bidding wars on bank owned properties, the new “normal”

Are you interested in buying a bank-owned foreclosure?

Related Post:  70% of Foreclosed Properties go under contract in less than a week

For a FREE List of Foreclosures email Kathy Torline at KTorline@msn.com

What should I expect when buying a bank property?

• Be prepared to act fast.   My research shows that 70% of bank-owned properties go under contract with 1 week of being put on the market.   On many properties, the bank will accept the first acceptable offer they receive.

Since many of the foreclosure homes in Colorado Springs are priced anywhere from 10% to 25% under market value, these properties get many showings on them.  There typically isn’t time to go back for 2 or 3 showings before a buyer makes a decision.   

• Multiple bids are turning into the norm.   Many bank-owned foreclosures in Colorado Springs are now in multiple bid situations.   This means that the bank has received several offers (1 to 20) on the property all within the same day or two.    Many banks then have each potential buyer sign a multiple offer form and the bank then goes back to each buyer and asks them to submit their best and highest offer.    Essentially everyone has a final chance to re-submit an offer.  It can turn into a blind bidding war; as no one knows what the other buyers have submitted on their previous offers.

• Do your homework.   In the case of multiple offers, it’s really important for buyer to do their homework before they submit their “highest and best” price on property.  There are several factors they need to consider: 

1. What is the price of the property as listed?
2. What is the price of comparable properties listed for sale?
3. What have comparable properties sold for?  (good comparable properties are ones that have sold in the same area, same floor plan, similar square footage, that have sold in the last 6 months.)
4. What type of repairs need done and what’s the cost estimate for the repairs?  Carpet?  Paint?  Kitchen updates?  Landscaping?  Deck?   Outside paint?  General updates?   Furnace?  Hot water heater?  Roof?

Once the bank accepts an offer, they almost always have a bank addendum for the buyer and the Buyer’s agent to sign off on.   They can be intimating documents filled with legal jargon, but if the buyer doesn’t sign, they don’t get the property.  I’ll write more about this in a future post.

     If you enjoyed reading this article, why not Subscribe to be notified of the next one? 

Related Articles:

• Homes sold “As Is” in Colorado Springs….what does it mean?
  Homes in Colorado Springs, 5 things to know about buying foreclosures
  8 biggest mistakes made by Colorado Springs home buyers

To find out more information about buying a foreclosure in Colorado Springs, call ….

Tags: bank owned properties, colorado springs co foreclosures, colorado springs foreclosure listings, colorado springs realty, highest and best offer, how do I buy a foreclosure, multiple bids

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 16th, 2009 at 4:47 am and is filed under For Buyers, Foreclosures and Short Sales. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1. Tony Orlando said at July 16th, 2009 at 6:45 am

   Great Blog post. I am going to bookmark and read more often. I love the Blog template

2. Foreclosure Help in Michigan said at November 3rd, 2011 at 11:19 am

   Great blog right here! Additionally your website rather a lot up fast! What web host are you the use of? Can I get your associate link in your host? I desire my website loaded up as quickly as yours lol

Leave a Reply