Search Bank Owned Properties for Sale in Portland Oregon
One of the most common questions out there for bargain hunters and Portland home buyers is; “How do I get a hold of Portland foreclosure lists?” Great question and reality is that most of these properties are already listed on RMLS (Regional Multiple Listing Service). Yes, there are lists of Portland bank owned properties available without a doubt and numerous companies sell these. But, how many of these are really top secret, dumped at bargain basement price on the courthouse steps, or not openly publicized on an MLS? Few, if any these days.
- Find bank owned not short sales
- Get foreclosure updates immediately
- Figure offer financing strategy beforehand
- Up your chances of getting an accepted offer
- What kind of deal can I get?
Find bank owned listings - Realtors now have a specific field in which to indicate whether a property is bank owned. Unfortunately, I believe that this data does not transfer to sites outside of RMLS, which means that buyers of foreclosures will need to have a Realtor set up an automated search to get notifications of new listings. It’s really quite painless, even though you have to talk with an agent.
Short sales and foreclosures are not the same. If home buyers want to be assured of closing the deal, don’t go for short sale listings. Short sales mean that offers are subject to a 3rd party approval and sellers really aren’t in control. RMLS has a required data field specifying whether such approval is needed for each house but again, you’ll have to have a Portland Oregon Realtor filter your search because this parameter is typically not available on public sites. Dang!
Financing requirements -Comments on listed properties are available in two locations; public comment and private comment sections. Portland’s MLS breaks the fields up into separate regions so that listing agents can write notes to other Realtors without displaying on public sites. Notes may include mention of financing requirements, earnest money and instructions on offer writing. It’s quite common that foreclosure/bank owned homes for sale will not qualify for FHA or VA type financing and selling bank will not even entertain offers of such. Most often the reason is that the subject home is in such poor condition that not meet lending guidelines.
Up chances for offer acceptance - Cash speaks volumes to banks. Eliminate contingencies like loan qualification, appraisal and underwriting. Do a quick close, two weeks or less is quite doable for cash transactions. Even when using a mortgage broker 3 weeks is often possible but be aware that selling banks usually have a per diem charge for not closing on time. If a buyer’s financing is delayed it can become costly very quickly (often $100 per day closing is delayed).
How low can you go? - Offering 50 cents on the dollar against listed price is not going to fly. Typically bank owned properties in Portland have been very aggressively priced. That’s not to say that there’s no room for movement but it’s unlikely that you’re going to get more than 5% off list for homes that’ve been active in the marketplace for less than a week. Multiple offer situations are more common on foreclosures than regular resale due to aggressive pricing. The key is to be first in line with your offer and make it strong by comparison to listed price.
For example: A Beaverton Oregon home for sale lists at $250k and is a extremely good deal by comparison to surrounding properties. Buyer should consider immediately offering something like $255k (net to the seller). Do this the same day house hits the market! Sitting on the fence in these situations will guarantee competition from other buyers and limit chances of success. Paying a couple bucks more than list price is negligible in the big scheme of things.
For more information on Portland Real Estate visit www.maxwellsinclair.com .
