Can you negotiate a deal to buy a home in preforeclosure that has an agent marketing it for personal use?

Is this home a "Short Sale"? If it is you would not be negotiating with the owner. The bank would be making the decisions. The Agent is acting as a conduit in the negotiations. Believe me, the agent wants to sell the home, and if it is in preforeclosure, the time is limited.

Al

Al's right (again). If there's an agent already involved, then it sounds like the bank has already approved the short sale, but you need to find out what the bottom line price is for the bank if you can. I'm a little confused though because you indicated the agent wanted it for personal use, and I don't know if that means s/he is interested in purchasing it or not.

And if the agent is not interested in purchasing it himself and then flipping it (could very well be what that agent has in mind), I believe since that agent is already marketing it, you HAVE to start negotiating with the agent - not the bank and/or owner. Talk to the owner first somehow if you can, and find out exactly what's going on. If the owner already has a listing K with the agent, and the agent DOES NOT want to buy it and flip it (would be surprised because that would mean commission selling, commission buying and then another commission selling when it's his personal property), then, by all means, after speaking with the owner, talk to the agent and let him represent you. Don't forget that if the agent is a salesperson and not an owner/broker, then that agent is only getting 1/2 of the selling broker's pie, but if the agent also reps the buyer, he gets more commission.

Gather info from owner first if you can, and drill down and see what's going on. Happy drilling!

Correct me if i'm wrong, but if i understand you correctly, you probably the one is interesting in purchase the property for you and your family. If you are, and the property is preforeclosure, you may still have to go throug the property owner and work out a deal with him/her. However, if the property is listed with the agent, then you have to go throug the agent, and he/she will communicate your offer with the seller.

If you want the agent to represent you and the seller, then you may have to make your offer and asked the agent for 2% concession and use that towards your closing costs. You always want to negotiate your offer and make the deal work for you, the seller and the agent. The agent may get 4% commission for representing you and the seller, thus safe you 2% for the down payment or use that money towards closing costs. Instead of agent getting 3% for reprentating the seller, he/she get another percent (1%) for representing you both, (total of 4% commission) Good luck!

Lloydsap

Thank you guys and gls who responded to my posting. All the info was great. But I have one more question. Can I still pitch alow offer as any other deal in preforeclosure? I assume so, I wouldn't see why not. Its either the owner will accept the offer or denie it and I am cool with either. I am ready for all the denial in the world, so it wont even bother me.
Kingjuss,

I am a real estate agent and have negotiated dozens of these deals with banks on behalf of buyers and especially the seller.
Below are a few points of interest bulleted for convenience and emphasis.
• It is to the interest of the seller to accept any offers that come in. They (the initial borrower) still have a say on their property, the bank has final say as an 'approval'.
• There is no need to negotiate the agent on commission - the bank will declare the commission he/she receives. Banks will not allow you to use the negotiated amount as a down payment. Banks do not pay closing costs nor allow any assistance.
• If you want your offer to go thru you do not want to try negotiating their motivation (commission) out of their interest)! The agent will be enlisted as a Limited Agent.
• You can make an offer at any price that you feel can be justified with comparables. Again, having the listing agent as your buying agent will benefit you. They will be able to sell the BPO to justify your purchase – this is not a conflict as they are helping the bank, seller and you in a win/win/win deal!

Thank you much for that response. It was detailed and clarified some things for me. You gave very specific details. Thank you for taking the time to pass that info on to me. I wrote your post down on paper so that I dont forget certain deatils. This house in particular is a nice house pretty good shape. Updates have been made as well. Plan to move by June.
Thank you Kingjuss,

My whole idea of negotiation is giving you some leverage as a seller or a buyer. I'm not saying anything by any means that you can't use the same agent and have a win/win situation. All i'm saying is, as an investor, i like to work every ankles and to be creative and not use any $$ out of pocket. In every real estate purchase whether you borrow $$ from the bank or other sources, there's always a down payment and plus closing costs. I'm not disputing any points made by dallinn, but i always make a point of not putting any money out of pocket.

Lloydsap