Buying A Foreclosure: What To Look For And What To Avoid Today’s housing situation makes it a buyers’ market.

There are hundreds of thousands of pre-foreclosure and foreclosure homes available on the market.

If you are in the market for a home, foreclosure listings can provide you with a great investment opportunity.

Bank foreclosed properties have already been confiscated by the lender, who must now recoup their losses and try to recover the cost of the loan.

Pre-foreclosure properties are still owned by the individual, who is in a financial dilemma and may be willing to negotiate a deal that is to your advantage.

Government foreclosures, such as HUD and VA properties, operate similarly to lender foreclosed homes.

Types Of Foreclosures

Foreclosure listing services can provide information based on geographic location, price range, and many other variables to help you narrow down your search and to make a wise real estate decision.

There are several aspects of researching, bidding on, and purchasing foreclosure homes that you will need to be aware of in order to receive the best deal possible and to avoid a potentially disastrous situation – think ‘location, location, location.’

Foreclosure Listing Services

If you are unwilling to live in a neighborhood, do not buy property there because you will probably have trouble selling because other people will probably feel the same.

If the neighborhood is clean, friendly, and relatively quiet, you should be able to enjoy living there for many years or not have problems finding a buyer if you choose to sell.

Check Out The Neighborhood

Foreclosures frequently require that you pay cash at a real estate auction or that you are preapproved for foreclosure listings.

Discuss shopping for a foreclosure with your lending officer as many lenders have separate requirements for foreclosure preapprovals.

Being clear about your intentions and reasonable about your ability to make payments will help your lender give you the best possible rate.

Be Financially Prepared

Before searching, identify the specific characteristics you must have, would like to have, and absolutely don’t want in a new home.

For example, some people love two-story homes, but others dread the thought of going up and down stairs all the time.

Knowing what you want ahead of time makes it that much more likely you will find the best home for you and your family.

Searching Foreclosure Listings

Professional real estate inspectors have the skills necessary to ensure you receive a written guarantee about the repairs needed before you buy in addition to knowledge about potential future problems.

Many inspectors can also provide you with a written estimate of the cost of any repairs, which you can use when calculating your maximum bid on a property.

Get A Professional Inspection

A title search will ensure there is only one mortgage. Without this information, you could go through the entire home buying procedure, sign the loan documents, and then discover there is a $350,000 second mortgage on the property for which you are now responsible!

A title search will also let you know if there are any unpaid property taxes you might be responsible for.

Title searches are crucial in foreclosures due to financial difficulties.

Do A Title Search

Painting, installing flooring, replacing a bathroom tile, or putting in a new kitchen faucet are manageable tasks.

Many home improvement stores offer free home maintenance and repair classes.

Foreclosures that look bad, but only need minor repairs, can be a windfall for a buyer as the appearance keeps the price low.

You Can Do It!

Step One - Get a preapproved loan with affordable payments.

Step Two - Consult a reputable foreclosure listing service like www.foreclosuredatabank.com.

Step Three – Enjoy!

Foreclosure listings can help you find the home of your dreams at an incredible price.

Excellent Return On Investment