Knoxville 1st Time Buyers 5 Steps To Successfully Buy A Short Sale

If you are a first time home buyer in Knoxville and are looking to get a GREAT Deal on a home you should consider buying a short sale. These types of homes can be bought at 20-30% less than fair market value making a great investment opportunity for buyers. I have found there are 5 things you need to do in order to increase odds of buying the home.

1 BE PATIENT…Knoxville Short Sales should really be called “Long Sales” because they are anything but a short process. You have to remember you are asking the lender to accepted less than what is owed on the home. This can be a long and drawn out process especially if there is more than one mortgage on the property. So it takes time and a great deal of expertise on the agents part to get a short sale accepted. The process can sometime take 5- 7 months to get it done and for the most part nothing happens for months. But if you are patient and hang in there the opportunity to buy a home at a HUGE discount are a strong possibility.

2. GET APPROVED FOR A LOAN… Get with a lender up front and don’t just get pre-approved but a full blown approval. Get all the a paperwork out of the way so when the short sale is approved you can close quickly. For the most part a short sale is like watching paint dry on the wall. You sit around waiting for what seems like forever than all of a sudden the bank approves the short sale and want you to close in 30 days or less. That is why it is so important to get you financing taken care of up front.

3. GET THE APPRAISAL DONE UP FRONT… You are thinking why would I want to spend the money on an appraisal when I don’t know if the lender will accept my offer? Here is why you should do it. The lender is going to order a Brokers Price Opinion on the home. Which means they are going to ask a Realtor to go out and tell them what they think the house is worth and pay them $50 to do it. I have had these BPO come back higher than the offer I have on the home sometimes. If I have a full blown lenders appraisal already on the home it increases out odds of getting our offer accepted because it is hard for the lender to argue with an appraisal.

4. GET THE INSPECTION DONE UPFRONT…When you buy a short sale you have to understand the seller and lender aren’t going to make any repairs. You are buying the house “as-is” so if there are problems with the home you should know it upfront. That way you don’t spend months waiting for an answer only to find out the house has inspection issues you don’t like. You could end up missing another opportunity if you don’t do it up front.

5. GET AN EXPERIENCED AGENT….Find an agent who has experience in dealing with short sales and can help and guide you through the process. Check out the site the site CDPE.com Certified Distressed Property Experts. The agent with this designation are trained in handing short sales and can guide you through the process.

If you have interest in buying a short sale in Knoxville give me a call and let’s talk. I have an experienced team in place and we have help many first time buyers make tremendous buys on some homes over the last couple of years. We understand the process and work with you to get the deal done.

Call me at 865-696-9002 or [email protected]