Trying to buy a short sale... asking for hardwoods to be installed?

[Ashenor]

Zero chance, they are not doing anything else or dumping any money into it, they are trying to get it off the books. If anything you can ask for a discount, but good luck.

 

[gorcorps]

If you're picky about flooring you absolutely should not be looking at short sales.

 

[Slew Foot]

lol, op is stupid.

 

[MadScientist]

It's a bank, they have no tie to the house other than to get as much $$$$ as possible from the sale, they really aren't the seller, they are simply approving the house to be sold.

You are correct.
The reason the owner is selling is that they can not pay the mortgage, so unless the floor is in dire need of repair and they agree to repair it, they are not going to pay for something that would be considered cosmetic.

My son just bought a short sale house in FL. He paid $30G less than it appraised. The owner agreed to pay to have the septic tank pumped out at her expense. He asked and she agreed but she didn't have to.
Someone had overbid him but they wanted their closing costs paid. The bank rejected the bid and accepted my son's. So the bank does have some say in the sale.

Some short sale facts:
If a property is listed as a short sale - the owner of the property is NOT the lender. This is a property owned by the seller (owner of record) who is overleveraged in the property and needs to sell anyway. In order for title to pass the lienholder must approve the sale - resulting in the short sale.

What this means to the seller in a short sale:

You will make the decision as to who the house sells to and under what conditions just like any other sale.
Once you have executed an offer of your choosing, the contract (along with a lot of other documentation) will go to your lienholder for approval.
Besides being unethical and illegal, executing multiple offers puts you in a position of liability.

What this means to the buyer:

The seller is the decision maker as to who the house sells to, but the sale must gain lender approval. This is a condition of the sale, just like an inspection condition.
The seller can legally only execute a single offer at a time.
Efforts to contact the bank to go over the owners head will prove fruitless. The seller rightfully owns this home. The lender can do nothing to sell the home unless they foreclose on the home and take ownership first.

 

[BoomerD]

Bank may be losing money but we're not "stealing" this house. remember, it's not a foreclosure, it's being sold at roughly currently market value in DFW, it's not Nevada or some crap.

I thought asking for them would be stupid, but it's like 10 grand additional out of pocket for me otherwise, which blows.


I guess the question remains, I thought it was NOT legal to get a credit from the "seller/bank" to do something like this. I thought at most they are allowed to pay up to 3% closing, nothing more.

am i wrong?

"Market value" doesn't matter. The bank is accepting less for the house than is owed on it. I REALLY doubt they will be willing to fork over MORE money on a losing sale.
I'm in the middle of "short selling" my house. NOTHING will be done to the house that isn't mandated by state law. (I had to install a CO detector)
My lender/investor (Fannie Mae) will not pay a dime towards closing costs, towards upgrades, or for any repairs. Those are all part of the buyer's responsibility.

 

[Ashenor]

It's like going to a repo auction and asking if the bank will put 22"s on the car before you buy it.

They don't care who buys it, or to a degree what it sells for since they are going to come back on the difference to the orginal owner, then write it off as a loss once its off there books.

 

[MadScientist]

I guess the question remains, I thought it was NOT legal to get a credit from the "seller/bank" to do something like this. I thought at most they are allowed to pay up to 3% closing, nothing more.

am i wrong?

If you mean taking out a loan for more than the purchase price of the house, then yes most banks (your lender) will agree to this if you qualify for the additional loan. The sales contract would have to written for more than the purchase price.

We sold our home last year and the buyer asked if we would increase the price on the sales contract by $5G. so they could use the money for cosmetic stuff. We agreed but only after our real estate agent agreed to base her commission on the actual sale price of our house.

 

[jemcam]

In the extremely unlikely scenario that you could talk a bank into this, they're going to install the cheapest laminate shit possible. It's far better to find out how much it costs and negotiate that cost off the sale price, then get it done before you move in.

 

[dabuddha]

While I love, love, love the house, I wouldn't go cry if we lost it. It's fucking expensive and at the tippy top of our budget, and with their counter it puts us 15K over my theoretical max, which is why I got bitchy and asked for floors, lol.

I'd walk away because of the bolded

 

[skyking]

I'd walk away because of the bolded

What I came to post. you are shopping out of your range, period.

 

[j&j]

came to my senses, just countered their counter with a price barely above our budget (5k) and left that as final. we'll see.

we definitely have them covering closing too though, so it's not completely terrible. i just want the house to appraise well.

 

[spidey07]

Why? In the end the price is ultimately worth what you're willing to pay for it.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I would just get it done myself. You can even save money that way, as the bank might charge you extra and get some really cheap stuff installed. At least if you get it done yourself once you own it, you can be in control of the entire process. If you are a DIYer you can even do it yourself and save money there.

 

[Midwayman]

Asking for them to do repairs on a short sale is a no-go. If there are condition issues your offer should reflect that. Have your agent explain the condition as the reason for the offer amount.