Colorado Springs Vintage Homes Blog

5 tips to buying a short sale

 Do you want to buy a Short sale in Colorado Springs?

For a free Buyers Guide, Email Kathy Torline at KTorline@msn.com

Related Article:

• Buying a short sale vs. a foreclosure, what’s the difference? 

If you are wondering what it takes to successfully buy a Colorado Springs home listed as a short sale, here are  some tips.  

1. Be patient – This is by far the most important thing to remember when buying a short sale.   If you need to move by a certain date, purchasing a short sale isn’t for you.    Again, remember patience.

Don’t put in an offer, and then a week later give up on it.  It’s a waste of every-one’s time.  Be prepared to wait a couple of months for an answer.

2. Decide what price to offer –  Have your Colorado Springs Realtor obtain information on other properties that have sold in the area.    Also, ask your Realtor to obtain the listing history of the subject property as well as prices on other comparable properties that are listed for sale.    After looking at all the fact, decide what price the bank may accept.  According to the National Association of Realtors, 80% of the offers made on short sale properties are not accepted.    It’s important to understand that lenders will not accept 50% of what the property is worth.

3. Homework - Do your “Due Diligence” on the home before making an offer.  Most Short sale properties are sold “as-is”; consequently you may want to have an inspection on the property before you put in an offer on it.  If there are “major” things that need repaired, you may want to get an estimate on them and take pictures of these items.   It may help the lender be more willing to accept your offer to have the repair information and estimated costs to fix the items.

4.Pre-qualification letter – Give your Realtor a pre-qualification letter from your lender if you are finance the purchase.   This letter will be submitted with the contract to the lender.  (See:  Pre-Qualification or Pre-Approval, which do you need to buy a home?)

5. Experience –  Make sure your Colorado Springs Realtor has experience with short sales.  (I’ve seen more deals not go through because one of the Realtors didn’t understand the short sale process and didn’t explain to the buyer what to expect.)    Don’t be afraid to ask your Realtor have they successfully closed any short sales.

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Kathy (719-287-1049)   KTorline@msn.com

Tags: buying a short sale, mortgage pre-qualification, short sales in Colorado Springs

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 at 9:25 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.

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