forclosure.com

[dislal]

Has anyone ever used this website? It won't let you look at any of the properties until you put your credit card # in even for a seven day free trial.

Any other suggestions on how to find houses like this!

TIA

 

[hinodis]

I would not trust this at all! A good real estate agent will help you. DS is making an offer on a forclosure tomorrow. If you have any questions let me know we have been working on this for weeks.

 

[disneychrista]

http://www.preforeclosure.com/ - I like this site to give me an idea of what is available. You don't ge the actual address but generally gives you a street name.

 

[Tree]

Contact a local real estate agent-my husband is a realtor and works with people seeking to buy foreclosures.

 

[herdtoDisney]

I would not pay one cent! Both properties I've owned (our present home and our former little place) were foreclosures. They were listed with realtors just like any other house. I wasn't even seeking foreclosures in particular.

I'd go with a good realtor, as others have suggested, and from experience.

 

[cbg1027]

I would NOT give that site your credit card. Foreclosures are listed with realtors like any other home for sale, so you can find information on them for free. They will be listed in all the usual places any other house for sale would be.

I used to work for a realtor who specialized in foreclosed homes, and my mother is a realtor who deals with normal buyer/seller deals. There are some big misconceptions about trying to buy a foreclosed home:

You're not going to get the house for some absurdly cheap price. Banks set the listing prices. They've lost enough money on the house already, so they're not going to take some really low ball offer on it. In fact, in my experience the banks were LESS flexible and not as willing to negotiate on the price as most private sellers.

The deal is not going to happen any quicker than a normal sale. In fact, they usually take LONGER. When a foreclosed house is a sent to a realtor to list, they have to assess the condition of the home themselves. Banks do NOT do big, thorough inspections on the properties or do much of anything to get the house in a salable condition. So once people come in and make an offer, they have to have their own inspectors look at the property, and 90% of the time, they will find that expensive repairs need to be done. So in trying to buy a foreclosed home, you will usually be taking on a big project. Most of the time these places have not been kept in good condition and no one has been at the property in months, and sometimes years.

Bottom line: if you're looking to buy a home, don't look exclusively at foreclosed properties because you're not going to get any better of a deal on them than a normal private seller owned home.

 

[taximomfor4]

I am betting that is a malicious website (your link is actually a misspelling of "foreclosure.")

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

I am betting that is a malicious website (your link is actually a misspelling of "foreclosure.")

Misspelling on the OP's part I'm sure. www.foreclosure.com is a legit site & yes they do ask CC info & the information they provide is better off gotten from a realtor. It's a good moneymaking "idea" on whoever created the website.

 

[dfchelbay]

Has anyone ever used this website? It won't let you look at any of the properties until you put your credit card # in even for a seven day free trial.

Any other suggestions on how to find houses like this!

TIA

Try www.Zillow.com. It's not a foreclosure site, but it will give you all the homes for sale and, as well tells you in the description of the home whether it is pre-foreclosure, foreclosure, short sale or regular sale. It will tell you what the home's worth, what the seller paid for it when they moved in, what the taxes are, etc. If you zoom in on the map, you will see the estimate of all the houses on the street, the ones in red are for sale, yellow are recently sold, and you can look around at the going rate in the neighborhood.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

We bought a foreclosure in Aug. and even though we live in foreclosure central (FL, LOL!), we had a ton of competition for this house. Our agent found it for us. It was on the market for a grand total of 4 days, and it had 4 offers including ours in those 4 days. We came in 21K over asking and we were still sweating whether or not we'd get the house.

My advice is to find out which local agents seem to get the hot foreclosure listings and then meet with them to tell them what you are looking for. Ask them to set up a listing cart for you and also to contact you immediately when a hot foreclosure that meets your requirements comes onto the market. I think that investors snap up a lot of the really good foreclosures, so you'll have competition no matter what. A good agent can really help you navigate the bidding process. I was surprised by how many people there are out there competing for the good foreclosure listings. By the time it hits that website you listed, it's probably already under contract if it's a hot deal, KWIM?

 

[hoosiergirl7]

Definitely deal with a realtor and not use the foreclosure sites out there. They have the access to that info that you can get for free.

As far as deals, you might get one you might not. One of the things it depends on is how long the bank has owned the house. If they've owned it 6-12 months you might get a better deal and you might get an even better deal if you agree to finance through the bank that owns the house. Not all foreclosures are POC. Most of them are missing all the appliances in the kitchen as people who get foreclosed on sell them for money or take them with. My BIL & SIL got a house via auction and although it needed work - paint, carpets, new appliances it was a decent house. It still needs some things done but if you walked into their house you would never know it was a house that went to auction.

Some areas have more foreclosures than others and there probably is competition for foreclosures where there are lots. Where I live now it is a hotbed of both regular real estate and foreclosures. Where we're moving to in less than 6 months there is nowhere near the number of foreclosures. We're interested in both and I'm in the process of trying to find a good realtor that won't drive me up the wall!

Good luck in your search!