We are all hearing how home sales are up but prices are still down in many areas. The question is whose market is this anyway… I can only give you my personal experience which currently is it is the Lenders market. I say this because the past 3 sales in the last month have been impacted by the lender involved. On my listing located at 10925 Mc Vine Ave in Sunland my seller an investor bought it at a Trust Sale (foreclosure auction). Nothing was “fishy” about the sale however the lender would not allow it to close with out it being held by the seller for 90 days. Now in an FHA loan this is the rule but not on conventional loans however we are stuck and must wait the 90 days.
On another one I represent the buyer of a great condo in Silver Lake, the buyer is obtaining an FHA loan, the building is not FHA approved but you can get “spot” approval. What I have learned in this transaction is not all lenders really know the ropes of FHA so my advice is if you are buying a townhome or condo make sure your lender has EXPERIENCE with the process and has had to get “spot” approvals. On the other side of this when it is a single family residence this is not a problem.
My last upset this week is a great townhome located at 10516 Sunland Blvd. #7 in Sunland, I represent the seller; now this is really strange but in a nut shell what has happened is the buyer spent their down payment, then tried to bring his sister and husband on to the loan (keeping this information from me.) Well they were going to gift the original buyer the down payment then at the last minute said no… Well as you guessed it we are back on the market and the sellers have already moved. The lender on this one has kept pertenant information from myself and the sellers, this should not have happened. So my conclusion for this week at least is that the lenders are holding the strings and we are all supossed to be their puppets and do what ever they say. On the other side of this I have since put my buyer with a lender who really knows FHA and it appears it will all work out delayed but it will close. My advice to all interested is work closely with your agent and make sure your agent really knows the lender! I would love to hear any of your thoughts on this…
