Can we get closing cost paid on a REO property?
You can ask for the moon. But, I can tell you from experience that a bank will reject outright a buyer’s request that the bank pay closing costs. Same with a short sale, where there are no proceeds from the sale, because the sales prices is less than what the seller owes on it. The bank is already taking a bath on these types of distressed properties, and they already budgeted what they will accept or approve as the sales price. If the property is desirable, I can also tell you from experience that the sales price (winning offer) for foreclosures and short sales is usually around 5% higher than the asking price. And, cash is king. If there are any cash offers – even if they are lower than the other financed offers – the banks will accept or approve those offers over the financed offers, because there is no chance that the deal will fall out of escrow for financing problems. Bottom line: if you don’t have the money for closing costs, you don’t have enough money in reserve to be buying a
