As you may have noticed we focus on buying REO’s. Early on we tried our hand at short-sales and became frustuated very fast.
The Cons:
- Typical response time is over 4 weeks, if you get one. In a declining market 4 weeks can mean -2% of ARV.
- Counter-offers take the same amount of time to get a response.
- Way too many parties involved (current owner, bank, bank who holds the second, re agent)
- Cash offers do not seem to get the attention that they do with REOs.
The Pros:
- Since response time is so long, you can usually walk away from any offer.
I know there are definitely people who make a living working short-sales, so they could maybe elaborate more on this list. We have found our niche in REOs and we can get more properties daily if we need ‘em.