My husband and I put in a bid and offer for a home that is in pre-foreclosure. We submitted a 1000 check for a deposit. The check has already cleared the bank however we have not heard from the bank about if the offer was accepted or not. Can they cash our deposit without accepting the offer? Or have they accepted the offer and just not informed us yet?? The house is owned by the bank, we don't know which one, and that is who we are waiting to hear from.

All monies are usually accumulated and not cashed until an offer is accepted. They should have you informed you one way or another. I would phone the bank to confirm seeing as you gave your money in good faith.

Ask the bank. They could have deposited the check in an escrow account.

Ask the bank. They could have deposited the check in an escrow account.
What is an escrow account? Can they do that without accepting our offer?

An escrow account is used to deposit monies that will not be used until an agreement is reached. Rather than just leave an uncashed check lying around. They may have just deposited it in this account to keep the monies separate. If they decide not to sell to you, they just write out a check from that account to refund the deposit.

So its certainly possible, for them to deposit your check pending approval.

By the way, is this your first home purchase? I ask because you weren't familiar with what an escrow account is. If the home is in "pre-foreclosure" then its still in the owner's hands, shouldn't you be dealing with the owner and not the mortgage holder?

Hello l:

Your offer should have had a timeline for acceptance, like 48 hours. That way, if they didn't accept or counter your offer within that time frame, you would KNOW that your offer was rejected, and you would KNOW that you have a problem with the bank.

In the future, I wouldn't be doing business WITHOUT a lawyer.

excon

An escrow account is used to deposit monies that will not be used until an agreement is reached. Rather than just leave an uncashed check lying around. They may have just deposited it in this account to keep the monies separate. If they decide not to sell to you, they just write out a check from that account to refund the deposit.

So its certainly possible, for them to deposit your check pending approval.

By the way, is this your first home purchase? I ask because you weren't familiar with what an escrow account is. If the home is in "pre-foreclosure" then its still in the owner's hands, shouldn't you be dealing with the owner and not the mortgage holder?


Yes, this is our first home purchase. I really don't know but my realtor tells me the house is owned by the bank and that the offer has to be approved by more than one person? However, we are paying cash for the home so I don't know what type of approval they would need.. but thank you for your response.. it helped a lot!