I've been saying this for years.

I've been saying this for years

I hate to go down the "I told you so" route but I'm going to to do it anyway based on this article from Inman News I just ran across.

If you want to buy a Bank Owned Bargain you need an agent who has done it before, and who is still doing it. Every purveyor of Real Estate Owned (REOs) has their own way of handling their sales, and every local agent adds their own layer of indviduality to the process.  Many of them try to make it easy for us but there are some, (I was going to say "you know who you are", but most likely they don't) who seem to delight in making the process as complicated as possible.  I have to say the government sponsored agencies including Fannie Mae and HUD are among those who are doing it right.

It's not only the offer process that's a pain.  Follow up can be a major problem especially with those agents with a don't call us we'll call you attitude, who only seem interested in updating those buyers who actually win the bid.

Self Promotion Statement

I've actually lost count of the number offers I've submitted in the years I've been doing this.  I know it's somewhere more than a hundred and probably less than a thousand.  I admit I made my share of mistakes in that time.  However by now I can be pretty sure of getting offers into the hands of the decision makers and getting a decision.  Whether it gets accepted or not is another story for another day.