OK, a little background. Owner of a house in a brand new subdivision outside of Chicago had the house built about 2 years ago to flip. Nobody living in the house. He listed the property for more than the builder was selling his model house for. Needless to say, he did not get any offers. Fast forward to last year at this time. The guy forgets to pay the gas bill, they shut off the gas and a pipe bursts in the upstairs bathroom. House floods from the second story down to the basement. The owner pays a company to come in and gut out the house, tear out the majority of the drywall, flooring (both tile and carpeting) and all the kitchen cabinets (below the bathroom that leaked). to be sure that no mold developed. House was professionally dried. Cost to the owner: $10K. He still owes the company that did the work $4K(I talked to the guy that did the work) The insurance refuses to pay due to the fact that the heat has not on. The house originally sold for $358K and the owner now owes approximately $278K. The house need approximately 80K-100K worth of work done to it to bring it back to new condition.

Fast forward to the present. I learn that the owner has been trying to sell it as a short sale since he does not have the money to fix it. He tells me that he has had one offer for $150K that Bank of America refused about 4 months ago. He has been making the payments, but is behind on them. The builder will now build the home for approximately $320K or will build it out to the drywall (no flooring, just plywood and no fixtures or anything) for about $240K. I placed an offer for $170K cash deal with the owner and the owner's lawyer submitted it to B.O.A. 30 days ago. The owner says that they have asked for more information, but have not given them any time line on how long it will take.

The bank is going to have to take a big loss on this one, due to the damage. If the owner walks away, I do not think they will be able to sell it as is for more than I am offering or they will have to sink even more money into it to get it into sellable condition.


My question is, how long do I wait before I pull the offer and is there anything I could do to get it to move any faster?