What's the latest investment strategy in your market?

[donnalong]

I'm also seeing a lot of that here this year (Orlando). Some people are even doing it with short sales which is certainly a gray area.

Short Sale and then a purchase back to back? Pretty interesting .....

[CarlosAT]

Yeah, I went to a round table on that with some attorneys. The investors buy the short sale cash and the same day sell it to another buyer who is financing and paying more for it. The attorneys were saying that the strategy is being reviewed and there's been a ban on it for the time being, however I'm sure there's people still doing it out there.

When you think about it, it is a great strategy because banks want cash offers and regular buyers are willing pay more if they can buy a house and not have to deal with multiple offers and all that comes with competing in the bank owned deal. Also, the buyers probably won't have to wait as long for the short sale to be approved because the investor is the one waiting.

However, from a bank's point of view, if a Realtor knew of another buyer willing to pay more for the house, isn't it their duty to report that? There are many questions with the strategy.

[AndrewR]

Sorry to ask CarlosAT but who banned that and where are you located ? I have seen this being done for close to 8 months and I haven't seen any problems as of yet ? - I'm located in Southern California

[Tim Shepard Destin]

I don't think that back to back short sales are actually "banned". However, FHA and Fannie Mae may require 90 days between sales before providing financing in some case.

This effectively bans back to back closings for many investors.

[CarlosAT]

I'm in Orlando. Our broker told us to be very careful about that type of deal and he asked us to attend a round table with attorneys and short sale experts in the area. I don't remember who banned it or IF it was really banned, but I remember them mentioning something along those lines. I think the main problem seem to be the fact that the investors were transferring title without the deed from the first closing being recorded at the court. It usually takes a few weeks before a deed is recorded.

[maryd]

Arizona-fix and flip