Making Offers

Introduction

  • Thank you for coming to our website for the information and forms you will need for writing an offer, We sincerely wish to help you and your buyer client navigate the sometimes tricky process of offering on a foreclosure or short sale property.
  • Live Oak Real Estate, through years of experience in foreclosures and short sales in North Carolina, finds the following process of making an offer on a foreclosure or short sale the quickest, easiest, and least likely to fail.
  • We will ONLY accept offers via email to offers@liveoakgroup.com.
  • Many of our foreclosure or short sale properties are finding themselves in double-digit multiple offer situations. In such critical multiple offer situations, the potential for information leaking through the use of faxes or printed paper is enormous, not to mention wasteful.
  • In order to protect your buyer's interest in the property and their offer terms, PLEASE only email your offer to offers@liveoakgroup.com.
  • Agents, PLEASE NOTE that for Live Oak Real Estate properties in North Carolina, Pam Wooddell is the listing agent, even though one of Live Oak Real Estate's buyer's agents is regularly depicted on the listing page on this site in order to help buyers as well as possible.
  • Sellers will not accept an offer contingent on the sale of another property.

Financing Foreclosures

  • The sellers of these properties request that agents do not show these houses unless the buyer has been pre-approved for a loan or has provided documentation of sufficient cash to close on the purchase of an REO.
  • The sellers will not provide financing
  • If your buyer is planning to pay cash, he may provide a bank statement or a letter from a bank officer (on bank letterhead) or a stock broker (on brokerage letterhead) stating that s/he has the funds necessary to close. and it will be required before an offer can be submitted to the seller. There are no exceptions to this rule.
  • If your buyer is planning on getting a loan, s/he must be pre-approved in order to make an offer on a property. Preapproval (not prequalification). There are no exceptions to this rule.
  • Most of these properties will not qualify for a VA (Veterans Administration) or FHA loan or any type of 100% loan. Be sure that your buyer tells his/her lender that the property s/he is interested in is a foreclosure property.
  • It is very very difficult to get a loan on a manufactured home (double-wide); a high credit score and at least 5% down-payment is usually required.
  • At this time, we know of no lenders who will make a mortgage on a single-wide mobile home or on any mortgage that is less than $30,000.
  • If your buyer decides to purchase a VA foreclosure, s/he is required to pay all seller’s closing fees; this is usually between $400 and $800. Please factor that into your offer.
  • Earnest Money Deposits are negotiable, but most banks will require that EMD be a minimum of $1000. When presenting your offer, a check copy is fine, but if the offer is accepted and Live Oak Real Estate will be holding the earnest money in trust, the monies must be in the form of certified funds.
  • Please note that title is delivered by Special Warranty Deed, not General Warranty Deed. When property is acquired through a legal proceeding instead of a sales contract and agreement, then a Special Warranty Deed is used.

Instructions

What to include in your email to offers@liveoakgroup.com

  • NC OTP(do not forget that NCREC now requires your license # on here as well)
  • Pre-approval or proof of funds
  • Awareness form (note agent initials in 2 places and signs at bottom)
  • Multiple offer form (if necessary, see property page on this site)
  • Buyer closing information form
  • Seller addenda(specific addenda found through Properties section to the left)
  • EMD or copy

Once you’ve submitted an offer….

  • Once you have emailed the offer to us, one of our staff will ‘audit’ the offer to be sure that you have sent everything that we need in order to submit the offer to our client.
  • Until we have all the paperwork, we cannot submit your offer to our client.
  • We will not call you to tell you that we have received your offer. You are welcome to email to verify that we have gotten your offer at offers at liveoakgroup dot com
  • Because the bank-sellers are large corporations, with more than one person’s OK required to sell a property, it frequently takes more than 3 days to get a response on your offer. At times, it takes 3 weeks or more. Please remember that Live Oak Real Estate can do nothing about this.
  • If your buyer’s offer has been rejected, you will NOT receive a rejection letter.
  • If there are multiple offers on the same property at the time of your offer or later, it is important that you and your buyer read and sign the ‘Multiple Offer, Highest and Best’ form. Your buyer MUST make his/her best offer in this situation as s/he likely will not have another chance to increase his/her offer.
  • PLEASE do your best to discourage your buyer from calling or coming to Live Oak Real Estate. We are not his/her agent and we want you to get paid for being the selling agent and holding your buyer’s hand as necessary!

Your offer is accepted

  • you will be notified via email of accepted offer
  • just as with the offer process, getting signed documents can sometimes take a long time, please be patient
  • Remember that some bank-sellers will require the buyer to use their designated counsel for the closing
  • It is your responsibility as selling agent to set up a closing time with the closing attorney. If you do not do this, we will set it up without conferring with you or your buyer
  • When the executed contract arrives, we will forward it to you and to the closing attorney, along with specific instructions to the closing attorney.
  • The closing attorney will perform a title search and obtain title insurance, assuring your buyer of good title.
    Occasionally, the seller is not able to deliver clear title due to a faulty foreclosure or other legal problem. This will cancel the contract and there will be no way to proceed with the purchase. The earnest money will be returned to your buyer. prepare yourself and your buyer for this possibility. It is also possible that the property may be back on the market at some future date.
  • Any extensions to closing date will require the written consent of the seller and may include a per diem (daily penalty amount) for a late closing not caused by seller.
  • At least a week before closing, make sure your buyer contacts his insurance agent and have them send an insurance binder to the closing attorney.
  • Arrange for utilities to be transferred into your buyer’s name effective on the date of closing.
  • Foreclosure closings can have significant delays on the seller’s part: Please tell your buyers not to rent a truck and not to move out of their existing home until you have received confirmation from the closing attorney that he/she has verified that closing will take place on a certain date and time. They cannot verify this more than 2-3 days before the scheduled close date.
  • After closing, be sure your buyers rekey their new property; Live Oak Real Estate uses a master key system.

Offer submission will only be accepted via email to offers@liveoakgroup.com