Second child on the way and currently own a 2 BR ranch in suburbs of Boston ($$$). How do i start looking for forclosed homes. News reports indicate that there are deals to be found but how do you start?
2007-12-06 07:17:00 · 6 answers · asked by ME 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Renting & Real Estate
Start by contacting your local banks, morgage companies and realtors. Remember that there will still be a debt on the property. But, try and form a relationship with these holders and ask questions about city, county, state, fed leins. Check with local recorder offices for any leins place by builders or other trades. You can find a deal but must do the ground work. If it is to good to be true....well, maybe it would have already sold. good luck, take pictures, keep good records and don't forget to share your experiences.
2007-12-06 07:38:25 · answer #1 · answered by 7toes 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are a couple of different flavors of "Foreclosed" homes - there are the preforclosures (those houses in which the homeowners are in trouble, and heading to foreclosure), there are the foreclosure auctions for properties that have already foreclosed, and there are the REO (Real Estate Owned by the lenders) which are properties that didn't sell at auction and were bought back by the lender. A property in each stage has their own set of rules for working with, and their own ways to find deals.
Pre-forclosures - you will have to find them, or advertise so they come to you. Default notices are public record, so you could look them up and then track down the homeowners. Otherwise you will need to put ads in the paper. There are many ways to buy houses in this stage, and this is my favorite way of purchasing - because of the fact you can buy with little to nothing down and not have to qualify for financing.
Foreclosure Auctions - right now are my least favorite, because it takes a lot of research looking up a lot of different properties. You have to carry certified funds to the auction (i.e. cash), and in my area, most of the houses are getting bought back up by the lenders.
REO - they are listed with Realtors. All you need do is ask around about which Realtors are representing REOs, or look up the REOs at the many REO listing sites (reotrans.com is one). These run under the same basic rules as buying a house retail. The difference is, these houses are normally in bad shape, and in some areas can be bought at a big discount.
For each stage, you need to know how to look up the actual retail value of each property, know how to calculate rehab estimates, and know how to negotiate the price down. I would not buy any property unless I am buying at no more than 75% of retail value (after rehab), and I normally buy around 50-60% of retail value.
2007-12-06 07:33:20 · answer #2 · answered by Christopher B 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are not anywhere near as many 'deals' as the news would have one believe. Many of these foreclosed properties sell not much below current value. Some sell ABOVE asking price. The ones which are 'deals' many times need extensive rehab work, or have issues with location, or both. Gotta do the homework and pound the pavement to find a good deal.
2007-12-06 07:29:15 · answer #3 · answered by acermill 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Why not talk to a buyer’s agent about all of the homes for sale in your area? Just because a home isn’t in foreclosure doesn’t mean there aren’t deals to be had, and just because a home is in foreclosure doesn’t mean it is a good deal.
2007-12-06 07:26:53 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Boston? Okay. Open your front door, step outside, look left, and now look right. You should see something being foreclosed on immediately!
2007-12-06 07:24:17 · answer #5 · answered by C B 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
call a real estate agent. They have lists of all foreclosures. Also I go to http://remax.com they have all mls listings and many are forclosures.
2007-12-06 07:28:47 · answer #6 · answered by pammi716 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋