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Permalink Reply by Bryant Tutas on December 29, 2012 at 2:01am

FHA guidelines allow 1% in seller concessions but only of the buyer is getting a FHA loan. If not they will allow ZERO seller concessions.

Although there are exceptions I would never submit a short sale of any kind where the buyer needs 6%. 3% max on regular short sales. 1% on FHA. Anything else is wasting time and placing the seller closer to foreclosure.

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Permalink Reply by Justin Berry on December 29, 2012 at 4:05am

I have.  It was about 3-4 years ago but the rules haven't changed.  The offer price was over the FHA Approval to Participate appraisal price and the lender netted 88%.  You'll need  variance and a very strong offer.  I've found that you can typically get a variance on either NET or concessions over 1% but not both.

Also, I should say that I agree with Bryant and now I wouldn't take a buyer who needed 6% seriously. 

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Permalink Reply by Joseph Alfe on December 31, 2012 at 5:52am

If a buyer NEEDS any kind of credit, then they are not qualified to make an offer on a short sale. Period.

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Permalink Reply by Bryant Tutas on December 31, 2012 at 6:56am

My experience is different. We have many FHA buyers that need 3% in closing costs. They can't compete in the REO market but make very good short sale buyers because:

1. They tend to be more patient.
2. Will usually pay more than a cash buyer
3. FHA appraisals come in higher than regular appraisals 
4. If they are purchasing one of my FHA PFS then they mist use the existing appraisal. This is a huge advantage when value can be an issue. It takes the appraisal issue right out of the equation.

This would certainly depend on the market. Mine is very heavy on FHA buyers.

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Permalink Reply by Joseph Alfe on December 31, 2012 at 2:12pm

Just curious, Bryant...How do you respond to lender counter offers, or seller (or any) costs not approved or covered by the lender?  Who ends up paying since the buyers cannot do so on their own, and have likely no room to bump up the price.  What do you do if the credit is not approved?

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Permalink Reply by Bryant Tutas on January 1, 2013 at 2:52am

Hi Joseph. Just like any other real estate transaction these things are addressed in the contract.The 3% seller concession is normally just a line item credit to the buyer. I've not had a problem with this. There are costs that the lender cannot pay if it's FHA so we just put in the contract that these are paid by the buyer.

We require a pre-approval at time of offer. If it's not solid we don't accept the transaction.

I've also not had any problems with pricing until the recent FNNMA fiasco.

Getting a low down buyer up in price if needed is also rarely a problem unless the price is not reasonable. But I would have that issue with a cash buyer too.

Now having said all that I do prefer cash buyers all things being equal.

So it really just depends on the deal. There are some deals where I know I'm going to need a flexible cash buyer and some where I don't.

We also put in the contract that the buyer will pay $xx towards the seller's closing costs. I base this figure on the amount of the seller costs that I expect we will need to move to the buyer side. This will cover HOA estoppel fees or any other costs the lender make balk at including additional payments to junior liens.

Each deal is structured based on what's needed for that particular transaction.

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Permalink Reply by Jason Sanseverino on April 4, 2013 at 8:47am

I have FHA short sales approved with 3% seller concessions all the time - but when it comes time to review the FINAL HUD - the seller concession is cut due to "non-approved" items such as pre-paids and loan fees. Has anyone else encountered this issue? What work-arounds are there?

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