Short sale too good to be true?

River course 3rd tee box.

Have you found a short sale that is priced right?  It seems like it is too good to be true.  It may be too good to be true.  A lot of agents are pricing short sales at a point that will be sure to get an offer or maybe several offers then they will submit the package to the bank and wait for a counter offer.  Now the counter will be deduced by the bank by having a Broker Price Opinion completed which is really the same thing as an appraisal but can’t be called that.  They will then counter at the market value.

What should happen is the listing agent performs a Broker Price Opinion before putting the home on the market.  They should then list the property at or a little below the market value of the properties that they used for their BPO.  That is fair to both potential buyers and their seller.  That way buyers know they are going into the transaction with a fair chance to actually get the home to the closing table.

At Walker Bagwell Properties all our agents do a BPO when calculating their offer then the buyer of course has the option to offer less or more. 

I would never discourage anyone from a short sale; you just have to have a clear understanding of what may happen when making an offer.  We have closed too many for me to question the concept. 

Some of the short sales in the beach area that I think could be bought are as follows:

A townhome close to downtown Cocoa Beach, this property has 2 bedrooms 2 ½ baths with 1834 sq. ft.  The list price is $115,000 and should be bank approved.  The home has a large deck off the master bedroom.

We have a ground floor unit in Harbor Isles that has been totally renovated with 2 bedrooms 2 baths and the complex features 3 pools, exercise room, tennis courts, a 3 block long river boardwalk and you can walk to the beach.  List price is $179,900.

A direct ocean condo that features 2 bedrooms 2 baths on the 4^th floor.  Listed at $250,000, I would probably offer $210,000.

Hope this at least clarifies a bit.

Jim Bagwell