How to Compete against Bank Owned Properties:
The current Woodland Hills / West Hills market has more listings and fewer buyers than we have seen in a long time. Some of the homes for sale in the West San Fernando Valley are Bank Owned. When you are looking to SELL your home in Woodland Hills, and a bank owned property is your competition, you need to know how to effectively compete with it.
What is a Bank Owned Property?
A Bank Owned (or REO) property means that the former homeowner went all the way through the foreclosure process and the home was foreclosed on and now the bank owns it. Since banks are not in the business of “owning property” these homes are often “fire-sold” for under market value.
Banks usually dump properties for less than market value. for what comparable homes were selling for. When Competing on price alone, against a Bank Owned property when selling your home can be extremely difficult. However, there are other ways to overcome this.
How to Compete against a Bank Owned Property:
For as daunting as it may seem, these are one of the easiest types of homes for sale in Woodland Hills to compete against.
• First, the agent co-op is usually closer to 2.5%. In the current real estate market, many agents are not doing very well. If you can offer a buyer agent co-op of 3% or even higher, I guarantee more agents will go out of their way to sell your home to their buyers. Regardless of the low price REO homes SIT on the market for over a month because of the low co-op.)
• Second, a bank is not likely to budge on terms, nor will they fix any inspection items. Like when competing against a desperate seller, offering incentives like a home warranty and paying for buyer closing costs can make all the difference.
• Third, a bank owned property is a repossessed home. The previous homeowners did not WANT to move, but were forced to move. Most bank owned homes in Woodland Hills / West Hills are vacant and not in great condition. Sellers that lost their home leave the house in poor condition.You can make your Woodland Hills home for sale SHINE, by making sure you have it clean, de-cluttered and professionally staged. Then make sure that your Realtor® takes a bunch of great pictures for the MLS and other advertising. Many home buyers want a move-in ready home and will almost always choose a perfect home over a cheaper one. Most Buyers don’t think they should start fixing and make the house “Livable” is something they want to tackle right after they moved in.
