Big Bear Reo's: The Wicked Witch

In one of my latest home sales, I had some bizarre issues with a REO regarding per diems and funky delays. I hope this quick tale spares someone else out there a bit of grief.

Obviously, we decided to proceed with our offer on the cabin, knowing it would probably be a prolem if we did not. This is where my experience came into play. I have had this happen to me numerous times on bank owned purchases and I have learned that my buyer just needs to forget about the bank and make sure he does everything he needs to do to stay on track.

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 observe a bank doing something completely out of the ordinary. It doesn't happen very often that a property owned by a bank has a smooth closing. As long as you hire an experienced Realtor that knows what they are doing, and you stay on top of things on your part, you should have a successful closing on a home.