About 3 weeks ago we placed on offer on a house that is currently in pre-foreclosure. The house was listed for way under value (Perhaps 100K undervalue). When we placed our offer, the seller’s agent told our agent that our offer was the second to come in and that he should hear back from the bank in the next day or two.
Fast forward 3 weeks.
There are now at least 5 offers on the house and the seller’s agent is not being very up front about what is actually causing the delay other than the bank has not responded to the offers yet and that the bank may not have a decision for another month.
Here are my questions:
1) What are some possible reasons for the delay? Does this simply mean that none of the offers are good enough?
2) The real estate market in the area is quite good. I’m curious why the seller would have a short sale and list the property below market value when it would probably sell for market value. Is it just a tactic to get more bids?
3) In this type of competitive (multiple-offer) environment, how important is it to have an offer that the bank can accept outright and not have to counter with? For instance waiving contingencies such as the inspection contingency and/or finance contingency? What about escalator clauses?
If you have ideas on any of the question, I would be happy to hear your opinions as I have very little experience w/ pre-foreclosures.
Thanks!