Guest post By Andrew Hill @ www.NewHomeSource.com
When Buying Foreclosed Homes be Realistic
Buying a foreclosure can be a fantastic adventure in real estate. And if you enjoy finding a great price for a home while getting your hands dirty, then it could be a perfect fit. But when shopping foreclosures you must remember this: if something looks too good to be true, it is. Foreclosures aren’t sold at rock bottom prices without reason. But, if you enter into the transaction with the required knowledge and a good understanding of the property you’re considering, foreclosures can be a goldmine of an opportunity.
Old Musty Bank Owned Properties
The first thing to know is that foreclosures often appear old or musty as a result of being left empty for a significant amount of time. This can make the process of selecting the right home difficult because you have to imagine what you can do with the home in the state it is in. That’s not to say every foreclosure you survey will be dilapidated, but you can’t expect them to look like properly staged homes. Many of the home’s problems will also be invisible to the untrained eye, so you will want to have a professional home inspection completed on a home you are considering.
Be Prepared When Buying Foreclosed Property
By far the most important part of this game is being prepared. The foreclosure market is highly unpredictable and the best deals go quickly. Therefore, the best way to close a deal is to be prepared with an offer at all times. To do this, you will need to get approved for a mortgage and find an agent who specializes in foreclosures. These two things should happen relatively simultaneously. Once you have these prerequisites under your belt, you’ll be that much closer to sealing the deal.
When you find the perfect property, it’s time to make the offer. You will then fill out the appropriate paperwork, which will be reviewed and given an acceptance or rejection within a matter of days. Should your offer be accepted, you can then proceed to the fun, yet labor intensive stage: reparations and modifications. The key here is to set realistic goals as you improve the home. Timetables should be used, but if you don’t meet each deadline, it’s not the end of the world.
So long as you consistently put in the effort, the fruits of your labor will not be in vain. In a short matter of time, you’ll have a “like new” property. Whether you want to live in it yourself or try to make a profit from it is another story.
Learn How to Invest in Bank Owned Property
The post above is a guest post by Andrew Hill. Andrew is from NewHomeSource.com a great place to find a new home by the way. And if you want a great place to learn about investing or wholesaling bank owned properties (REOs) you can’t do better than my friend Steph Davis’ Flip REOs for fast cash program
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1 response so far ↓
1 Bob Bergman (1 comments.) // Jan 3, 2013 at 12:26 pm
Whenever you transact business involving real estate, you should have a real estate lawyer involved. For instance, many people purchasing property think they have no rights against a seller when they sign the purchase agreement on a “as is” basis. Shortly after they have purchased the property they find some type of major repair or problem structurally with the property that was not disclosed and feel they are stuck because they signed the contract “as is”. Paying for an expert that knows the real estate laws can protect your interest and save you a lot of headaches and money down the road.