Countrywide holds more foreclosures than any other institution in the country, so if you are shopping for foreclosures, there is a good chance that you will tour some owned by CW. Here's the catch! More so than any other foreclosures we have come across, the Countrywide addendums to the base contract are "all about CW" and...buyer beware!

It works something like this. They price the home competitively and essentially take multiple contracts to generate competitive bids, frequently bidding it up to at or above market value. When the "lucky" winner is notified that they won the bid, they are handed about 20 pages of "addendums" that essentially negate every condition of, and rewrites the base contract. The buyer starts the contract process all over again unless they choose to walk and lose all the time and effort they have into the process.

This tactic has caused extreme stress for our clients that have pursued the CW foreclosures and we wanted to pass this to anyone considering them.

We would be happy to have your comments on this issue. Joe