I am looking to buy a home in the near future. DH thinks we will save big money on a foreclosure. I am not likeing the idea. have you heard any horror stories ? how about good stories ?

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My dh and I bid on a foreclosed house, when we were first looking. I didnt know it was a forclosure, it was listed with all the other homes. It was very nice, but needed alot of work, mostly painting, and new carpet throughout the house. The bank wouldnt accept our offer so we passed on it. But with all the time and money to have it in move in condition, it wasnt worth it to me....It depends on how much you are willing to spend, and what kind of condition the house is in, and if you are willing to do some work and spend a little money it might be worth it for you in the end.
For us it wasnt worth it, my dh would be gone at work all the time and I would get stuck doing most of the work. I dont mind helping but I don't know how to lay carpet and we didn't want to have to pay someone.
Good Luck. HTH

I have NOT bought a foreclosed home, but 2 different friends did.

I think the big issue is making sure there are no liens on it - as I understand it, not only does the house come in "as is" condition (which can include lots of deliberate damage if the previous occupants were forced out), but also can include any previous liens/loans out on it. Do LOTS of research through town records, and get good legal advice, as well, if you plan to pursue it.

Good luck!

A good friend of mine just bought a forclosed home-- they closed today. She is one happy camper!! The orginal owners tried to sell the home, but were asking too much money, after a few months they dropped the price a little, but the market is bad right now. So, they finally couldn't make the payments anymore, and the bank took over. They sold the house to my friends for about $40,000 less than what the owners were asking!!

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From what I know, ANY home that is mortgaged can become a forclosed home. It doesn't necessarily say anything about the home itself, besides the fact that the previous owner couldn't uphold their financial responsibility on it.

As someone posted above, as with all homes, pay close attention to the condition of the home. Some people get ruthless and tear a home up when the foreclosure is coming. We have some friends who are real estate investors and they LOVE foreclosures. Most of the ones they buy have foreclosed because the previous owner OWED more on the home that it was worth, due to real estate prices slipping. It only made sense for them to let it go.... especially when your mortgage is $325K, but the home is only worth $155K... it's a losing battle.

My friend specializes in foreclosures in Vegas and I know the paperwork is a little different depending on the foreclosing agency. I don't know much else about it though....

I am a foreclosure buyer! 2 out of 3 of my homes have been bank owned. The first house I paid $55,000 for (it was a townhouse) and my neighbors all paid over $100,000, and it was BRAND new, I even got to pick out the carpet, the builder went bust and left the bank with a whole developement full of unfinished houses.

The second one we are now living in. When we bought it, it was disgusting, I wouldn't even let my kids in here until all of the carpet was out, but what a deal we got! It's probably over a $500,000 house (we heard more after we get the landscaping done) and we paid $345,000 + about $30,000 in improvements.

SOme foreclosures you can't live in, like this one, so we had 3 morgages at one time, our old house, a home equity to buy this and a third when this closed and we still didn't have our first sold, but it had to be that way to get this ready to live in.

The deals are out there, you have to know the area your looking in. There are certain things a bank can't get away with in an "as is" either. Like it has to pass a water test, it's against the law to sell one ( in NJ anyway) with a bad well. You can do all of the inspections you want and do them ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You need to know what you are buying since nothing is guaranteed. I would not buy an old house there are too many potential problems, wiring, septic, lead paint, asbestos, etc. and don't buy one with an inground oil tank ever.

You have to be willing to do the work, bottom line.



ETA that my dad's house was forclosed on because he was ill and just couldn't make his payments because he was unable to work. Nothing wrong with the house, he just couldn't pay for it.

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"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked." ~ Bernard Meltzer

A very good friend of mine bought a house under foreclosure a few years ago. She and her DH have done quite well! What they paid for the house was considerably lower than the market price... yes, they have had to do some work (not terrible - some cosmetic stuff, some a little more ambitious) but have still made a GREAT investment on it.

Now if a house were completely (deliberately) tore up due to the impending foreclosure (from previous owners), I might pass on it...

JMTCW!
Suzanne

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Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant, filled with odd waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don't always like. - Lemony Snicket

Not in my own personal experience, but speaking with others who do have experience, what I would say is, as with any home purchase, inspections are the most important aspect of purchasing a foreclosed home. All title searches, etc must be done, but some (not all) former homeowners of foreclosed homes will either let a home "rot" when they know they will be losing it or will deliberately damage or destroy things in the home. Some of these things are not visible, which is why a strong and thorough inspection process must be followed....pest, roof, appliances, plumbing, foundation, etc., all must be inspected. I would also make sure that either a home warranty is offered or purchase one yourself.

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Have the courage to be yourself.

I recently TRIED (without success) to buy a foreclosed home that went up for sale a few streets up from me, it was 4,500 sq ft. for $164.000.00 4beds 5baths (shedding tears here) because this house in my area (if that bank knew anything except what the previous owner owed) it would have been atleast $350,000.00 the house was all brick, but the owners family ended up financing it for them Although most of the houses in my area that are foreclosed are damaged by the po'd owners who couldnt afford it and they never sell.

We bought a forclosed property over 3 years ago, and I LOVE it. It's pretty darn close to my dream home. That being said, we did have to spend the first 3 months fixing it up before we moved in. It wasn't that it was in really bad shape, but there was mold and no heat or a/c. Then we repainted everything and made some upgrades to the flooring and finished out the 2nd floor. The previous owners had apparently started a lot of renovations and then run out of money and quit.

We just bought our first house and it was a foreclosure. It's only 2 years old so it's in great shape (no work had to be done before we moved it). The previous owners got a divorce and couldn't keep up with the payments. We walked into this house with equity already (appraised for $10,000 more than we bought it for). When we were house hunting we looked at a lot of houses that were foreclosures as it's happening a lot lately.

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Tiffany -- mom of
Brittany Nicole 12
Bethany Abigail 9
Zachary Elihu 7
Cameron Alexander 2

A real estate worker we were working with a few years back had a great suggestion for us.

He said that if you see a house in the paper that you like w/a foreclosure date coming up, the owners can sometimes be contacted and offered the amount of money that is owed to the bank (you can get that info from the town). They might be interested in just selling to avoid the stigma and credit mess that happens if they are forclosed on.

If you do bid on and purchase a foreclosed house, he also suggested contacting and offering the occupants an amount of $$ (such as 2,000 or so) to "look out" for the house - it's sort of insurance that the house will not be deliberately trashed - payable at the time of the closing of the house, but off the records. Of course, this is not usually necessary, but it might be a good idea - a small amount such as this could help eliminate tens of thousands due to needless vandalism.

To All That Bought A Foreclosure - How did you find it? Someone said in the paper. Do you mean in the section where they put the public notices? Thanks for all your help in advance. Please keep your fingers crossed that I finally can find a house that I love and can afford.

Thanks so much,
Judi

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"Try to see the glass half-full."

My brother just bought one not too far from me and around the corner from my mom. It was in good condition but was painted wild colors and had some weird walls that made the layout odd. We told him DH and I could easily fix those issues. It does need a new roof and new carpeting but a lot of used homes need that stuff. It's a good neighborhood and he got it for $30K under what they were asking since the bank wanted it sold before the end of Jan. 2 years ago it sold for about $340K and he picked it up for $230K and it will need about $10K put into it.

If we had the cash, we would definitly look into it for ourselves for a rental

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We live in a foreclosed upon house. It is a nice house, but granted it did need a lot of work (and to some extent still does). We originally purchased the home for $54K and put $30K into it so far. We believe that it will appraise for over $100K, and will find out soon

I have heard that buying before foreclosure is the best way and your advice is good. We did that a thousand years ago in CA. It was a divorce and the house was about to go into foreclosure. We did end up having people calling and showing up at our door for some time, looking for the previous owners for money owed.

I also like the idea of offering money to keep the house safe. People who are down and out need to think that they won't leave a place entirely empty handed and that money might make the difference of them being homeless or being able to find some place to stay.

Our first and only house was a forclosure. It was a VA forclosure. It was such a deal. Only cosmetic changes, paint, carpeting, etc needed. It was a steal too. We paid about $15,000 less than market value. It was very high interest rates at the time, (in the early '80's it was 15% )so we had a lot of houses to choose from. We refinanced when rates lowered. People told us we were crazy to buy, but we did anyway. 27 years later, I am glad we bought it. It has served us well!

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