Although some of your initial offers will be accepted, you must also be
prepared if the lender rejects your offer. Just because your first offer
is denied does not mean that the deal is dead. This is now the perfect
opportunity to learn precisely what you have to do in order to close the
short sale.
The first thing you will want to do before making another offer is find out from the lender exactly why the first offer was rejected. Here are several key factors that may result in your offer being rejected.
"How much do you need to net if we agreed to a reasonable short sale offer?” Will the lender tell you how much? That is to be determined after you ask the question. The point is that you will never find out unless you throw it out there. Even if you don’t find out initially, the next best time to ask is prior to the counteroffer. You want to start and maintain a constructive dialogue with the loss mitigation rep where you are constantly probing for information that will determine what your best offer will be.
When I do short sales, I mainly develop my initial offer based on how much equity or profit I want to make with each deal. However, from time to time when I’m preparing a counteroffer I use a formula to help me come up with the most accurate guess on what I think the lender is willing to accept. If used correctly, this formula alone will more than pay for the price of this course 1000 fold.
Here it is…
Step 1: I take the estimated or actual BPO amount or the value of the house, based on the comps then multiply that number by 85%.
Example:
$175,000 (Estimated BPO value) X 85% = $148.750
Step 2: I then take the number I got and multiply it by 92%
Example:
$148,750 X 92% = $136,850
If this were an actual deal, I would use this final number or something close to give me my counteroffer amount. Although I have reason to believe that the lenders use a similar formula when they determine the amount they are willing to accept on a short sale, I cannot say that this is exactly it.
I do know that this formula does two things.
It gives me a calculated number to use for my initial offer or counteroffer.
It allows me to breakdown to the lender how I came up with my offer.
Be resilient yet realistic when making your counteroffers. Understand that it may not stop with the first counteroffer. You may have to counteroffer a 3rd or 4th time just to get the amount down to where the lender feels comfortable to accept. At times it may only be hundreds of dollars that you are negotiating. If you are game for a strategic a methodical approach to negotiating your offers you can always use my 3 step approach to getting your offer accepted.
Step 1: The first offer will be used to get the number that you and the lender are negotiating down to tens of thousands.
Step 2: The first counteroffer will be used to either close the deal or get the number that you and the lender are negotiating within thousands.
Step 3: The second counteroffer will be used to either close the deal or get the number that you and the lender are negotiating within hundreds. Usually at this point, the lender is the most flexible and the loss is obviously not as great.
Another thing to consider when determining your counteroffer is if in fact it even makes sense to offer one. Sometimes the lender is non-negotiable and will only accept what they will accept. Period! If this is the case does it make sense to continue trying to persuade someone who is not willing to work with you? You have to make that decision on a case by case basis. The most important thing to remember when making your counteroffer is that the deal has to make sense for you. I’ve seen investors get their short sale accepted but fail to agree to an amount that is highly profitable.
Like I mentioned, I cannot determine the value of your time and effort. That is something that you must decide, but I can say that short sales are big money deals and if you are making offers that do not put a lot of money in your pocket you are probably leaving it on the table for someone else to enjoy.
The first thing you will want to do before making another offer is find out from the lender exactly why the first offer was rejected. Here are several key factors that may result in your offer being rejected.
- They will not net the required amount needed to justify accepting your short sale offer. Simply speaking, your offer was too low!
- The lender is adamant that they can do better waiting for a better offer or foreclosing on the property.
- They do not agree with the terms of your contract or net sheet.
- The loan is government insured and therefore they are protected against a foreclosure.
- The investors of the loan are asking for more money to close out the loan.
- You tick the loss mitigation rep off so bad that the last thing they want to do is help you.
- The hardship was not proven enough to persuade the lender to accept a short sale.
- The lender would like to explore alternative payment options with the homeowner instead of doing a short sale.
- Your offer was much lower than what the BPO assessed the house for. This is another example of your offer being too low.
"How much do you need to net if we agreed to a reasonable short sale offer?” Will the lender tell you how much? That is to be determined after you ask the question. The point is that you will never find out unless you throw it out there. Even if you don’t find out initially, the next best time to ask is prior to the counteroffer. You want to start and maintain a constructive dialogue with the loss mitigation rep where you are constantly probing for information that will determine what your best offer will be.
When I do short sales, I mainly develop my initial offer based on how much equity or profit I want to make with each deal. However, from time to time when I’m preparing a counteroffer I use a formula to help me come up with the most accurate guess on what I think the lender is willing to accept. If used correctly, this formula alone will more than pay for the price of this course 1000 fold.
Here it is…
Step 1: I take the estimated or actual BPO amount or the value of the house, based on the comps then multiply that number by 85%.
Example:
$175,000 (Estimated BPO value) X 85% = $148.750
Step 2: I then take the number I got and multiply it by 92%
Example:
$148,750 X 92% = $136,850
If this were an actual deal, I would use this final number or something close to give me my counteroffer amount. Although I have reason to believe that the lenders use a similar formula when they determine the amount they are willing to accept on a short sale, I cannot say that this is exactly it.
I do know that this formula does two things.
It gives me a calculated number to use for my initial offer or counteroffer.
It allows me to breakdown to the lender how I came up with my offer.
Be resilient yet realistic when making your counteroffers. Understand that it may not stop with the first counteroffer. You may have to counteroffer a 3rd or 4th time just to get the amount down to where the lender feels comfortable to accept. At times it may only be hundreds of dollars that you are negotiating. If you are game for a strategic a methodical approach to negotiating your offers you can always use my 3 step approach to getting your offer accepted.
Step 1: The first offer will be used to get the number that you and the lender are negotiating down to tens of thousands.
Step 2: The first counteroffer will be used to either close the deal or get the number that you and the lender are negotiating within thousands.
Step 3: The second counteroffer will be used to either close the deal or get the number that you and the lender are negotiating within hundreds. Usually at this point, the lender is the most flexible and the loss is obviously not as great.
Another thing to consider when determining your counteroffer is if in fact it even makes sense to offer one. Sometimes the lender is non-negotiable and will only accept what they will accept. Period! If this is the case does it make sense to continue trying to persuade someone who is not willing to work with you? You have to make that decision on a case by case basis. The most important thing to remember when making your counteroffer is that the deal has to make sense for you. I’ve seen investors get their short sale accepted but fail to agree to an amount that is highly profitable.
Like I mentioned, I cannot determine the value of your time and effort. That is something that you must decide, but I can say that short sales are big money deals and if you are making offers that do not put a lot of money in your pocket you are probably leaving it on the table for someone else to enjoy.
