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Is it true that bank-owned REO properties are usually being sold to the highest bidder?

Banks (REO sellers) only care about the bottom line (ie the final number). They don't care about other factors such as buyer's FICO scores (750 or 800), down payment amount (20% or 40%), or it's the 2nd highest bid. Do they counter few highest bidders to submit the "highest and best" offer OR they just simply take the highest bid received without even countering the rest?

Public Comments

1. that is NOT true. if you give an offer of 20% down and have a fico of 750 and are offering 6% less than the selling price you have a much better chance of getting it than the guy who is offering full price that is putting 3% down.
2. You're correct in that they only care about the bottom line....to an extent... Once they have all the offers in the same "language"...that is, dollars to dollars, they go the highest bottom line figures to search further... In the order of loans, I'd say Conventional is tops (because more down is required which means the owner has more of a stake in the property), 2nd would be FHA loans...since this is basically a loan backed by the govt. and 3rd is VA loans...since no down payment is required... Follow that up with FICO, stability, years in the profession or on the job, married, single, debt ratio.....and what they are asking for.... Some offers may request 3% of closing costs, others might ask for nothing..... Eventually, the asset manager will (hopefully) make the right decision for his client (the bank).... but not always.... I was high bidder on a proprty at $330k but lost it to a 325k offer even though my client was putting down $60k and had a FICO of 800... listing agt said we were asking for too much,.......which wasn't true...just the normal 3% of closing costs for non-recurring and recurring costs....normal...and if they didn't like it, could have countered us... Long story short...he sold it to another agent in his company...which means they got an extra half percent commission on the deal.....that's about $1,500.... So not every great offer gets accepted for various reasons.....but try to explain what happened to a client when there are some agents who do things not quite by the book....
3. They either counter ALL with simply "highest and best" or none and simply accept the highest and best. There are no games back and forth, your offer is your offer, they will not ask you to change it. FICA does matter, anyone will low scores is thrown out unless they are paying cash. All cash offers beat financed ones hands down. I know, I have lost every bid I made this year, it is getting really competitive out there. I am mostly loosing to Chinese (from China, do not live here), who seem to be buying California for cash.