As you’ll see, she makes a great case for why it’s a BAD idea for sellers to enter into a lease with purchase option.

In another post I’ll address why it’s an even WORSE idea for a home buyer to enter into a lease with purchase option, or what I call a “Glorified Lease.”

Regardless of whether you’re a home seller or buyer, I urge you to NOT enter into a lease with purchase option without solid legal counsel.

As always, I’m open to your comments or questions!

In the first four installments of this series (1st Thing You Should Know About Buying Foreclosures, 2nd Thing You Should Know About Buying Foreclosures, 3rd Thing You Should Know About Buying Foreclosures, 4th Thing You Should Know About Buying Foreclosures), I wrote about defining Terminology, Pricing, Multiple Offers and Response Times as they relate to “Things You Should Know About Buying a Foreclosure.”  Here’s the 5th post of the series:

• Condition – Foreclosures are always offered for sale in AS-IS condition. What that means in street language is, “What you see is what you get!” It also means “Buyer Beware!” The message the banks are trying to send is that they are not interested in doing any repairs on the property, regardless of the extent of any such needed repair(s).

NOTE:  This does not mean the buyer is not entitled to perform a professional home inspection, termite inspection, and any other inspection(s) desired (at the buyer’s expense), but AS-IS means if any repairs are called out or identified by inspector(s), the bank/seller reserves the right to refuse to perform them. So the term Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware) comes to mind. The best advice is for the buyer and the buyer’s agent to do a thorough physical/sight inspection of the property BEFORE submitting an offer on a Foreclosure, and then follow through with a thorough professional home inspection AFTER securing an accepted contract.

An experienced, knowledgeable, professional Buyer’s Agent can be invaluable during this process/phase, so please be aware, be wise and be careful.

In the first three installments of this series (1st Thing You Should Know About Buying Foreclosures, 2nd Thing You Should Know About Buying Foreclosures, 3rd Thing You Should Know About Buying Foreclosures), I wrote about defining Terminology, Pricing and Multiple Offers as they relate to “Things You Should Know About Buying a Foreclosure.”  Here’s the fourth post of the series:

• Response Times – There have been instances where certain banks have taken as long as 2-3 weeks to respond to an offer from a buyer on a Foreclosure. However, in my experience the average response time from banks is typically 2-3 business days. Of course the case load of the specific asset manager, the proficiency of the listing/seller’s agent, and numerous other factors can increase response times, which is why there is no predetermined or predictable response time by banks to offers for Foreclosures.

The standard Arizona Association of REALTORS Resale Purchase Contract contains a section in which the Buyer’s Agent can specify a finite expiration date and time, but there’s nothing in the contract that requires the bank/seller to respond to the offer.  I normally recommend setting the offer expiration at least 2-3 business days beyond the offer submission date.  Protection is thus afforded the buyer so that the offer will not be ‘good’ indefinitely, but it still allows the bank/seller a respectable period of time during which they can respond before the offer technically expires.  When in doubt, consult with your Buyer’s Agent about potential response times and expiration dates.