Buying a Home Foreclosure?

[Pembo]

Does anyone know anything about this?

My hairdresser told me that a client of hers, a realtor, said this is the best way to buy a home. But how do you find a house that is foreclosed? Am I chasing a wild goose here?

See, I found the perfect house but it's $30K more than we can afford. (Why is that always the way?) I'm frustrated already...

 

[Pin Wizard]

Ask your realtor. They're able to get a listing of foreclosures. Or you may even be able to do it online. Our first home was a foreclosure.

 

[janette]

Our first house was a foreclosure, we purchased it from the bank. It worked out very well, since you aren't dealing with individuals it makes somethings easier. When something came up at closing that they hadn't already agreed to pay a quick call to the bank and it was covered, it cost us $50 to purchase the house.

There are risks involved with purchasing foreclosure's in a county auction (the court house steps type thing), there can be other liens against the house. It can work but you really have to do your research and know more about the process.

 

[binny]

we bought a foreclosed house.

It was a good deal, we stand to make a fair amount of money when we do sell. BUT and this is a BIG but, most often there is A LOT Of work to do!! Not all of them but a good share of foreclosed homes are foreclosed because of people got in over their heads with the payments and if people dont have the money to pay for the house, they dont have the money keep up a house, KWIM?

We have to have our entire yard hydroseeded becasue of that fact plus new landscaping as it was all allowed to die off.

Also, many people are very bitter about being evicted, they take it out on the house. we looked at several foreclosures and all of the ones we had looked had been trashed!! The one we bought was the least offensive but we still had do a lot of repairs. When he left he took the ceiling fans, the switchplates, tried to steal the dishwasher ( he couldnt figure out how to get it unhooked apparently but he damaged it), left holes in the walls and in the carpet ( some right down into the floor) damaged several walls and more... it wasnt pretty. Those are the bad things,

The good things have been this is a good neighbourhood, one we couldnt have afforded otherwise, the house is a nice size and 4 bedroom which is hard to find at a reasonable price here and as I said, we will make a nice coin when we leave.


Our closing wasnt easy as others have been but there extenuating circumstances involved as well. If the house has gone to HUD, dont look for a quick close, its government - they dont know the word quick. If its simply a bank foreclosure, mostly those are quick sells.

Any competent realtor can find you a list. I dont knwo where your from but some states have a program called Golden Feather go to www.goldenfeather.com for a list if your State is included.

Otherwise your realtor can help you.

Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to try to give yo a full picture. It isnt easy but for us it was worth it.

 

[KaterBell]

Wow. I learned a lot by reading these responses, and it wasn't even my question.

Just one thing - don't sign up for any "email" lists for Foreclosures, or it'll be SPAM Central!

 

[Poohlovr]

My very first home was a foreclosure. At that time, you could call HUD and get a list of foreclosed homes.
Of course, this was way back when, but, at that time, the government rehabbed some of the houses (ours was) and guaranteed the house (heating, plumbing, etc). They even replaced the fence that the previous homeowners took down, because they were still paying for it.

As mentioned earlier, any realtor can get a list of the homes available.

We saved big $$$ by going this route.

 

[Pin Wizard]

Wow, Binny! You had to do all that work? The realtors told us that the previous owners had trashed the place, but the bank took care of it all. We were asked...what color carpeting do you want?!

 

[snoopy]

Usually every realtor's office has at least one agent who specializes in foreclosures.

My brother and his wife just bought a house that was foreclosed on, and it wasn't trashed at all! In fact, it was very well maintained. The people just were living way beyond their means. You may need to browse around a bit, but good homes at a good price are out there if you look hard enough.

 

[Mskanga]

Our current house was a foreclosure , this house was the summer retreat for some New Yorker that decided did not want to pay $50 a month in the winter to keep the heat on at minimum so the pipes wouldn't freeze, so there was major bursts all over the place , sheetrock damage, the bathroom upstairs fell through and the carpet was totally ruined so they walked away from it and lost it.
Before we bought it , the bank re-built the house , the only thing they didn't do was replace the carpet, we were fine with that.
We paid half of what the original people paid for this house.
The only thing I will really tell you is to have an abstract company to do a search on the tittle and make sure the liens are removed before you buy , that delayed our closing three times. Good luck.

 

[cassie]

My condo was going into foreclosure when I first looked at it. It was four years ago, and condo prices were just starting to rebound from the last recession. They had taken a bad hit. It wasn't trashed, but very dirty, and being almost 30 years old in dire need of updating. I felt bad for the owner...a retired single gent.

I paid a decent price for it, but it was a HUD mortage, and it took 3 months for the paperwork to go through. I was fine with that as I was in no hurry to move. Also, being my first mortage, I was scared to death what with all the constant paperwork. It worked out wonderfully....after 4 years, it is now appraised at 3 times what I paid for it!!