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Tuesday, 18 August 2009

Buying a Foreclosed Home

By Andrjuha Lee

Let's face it; the housing market has certainly seen brighter days in the past than it is right now because with the economy in the state it is, many people are battling financially. In fact, the vast majority of us have needed to make certain sacrifices in order to stay above water and prevent unwelcome guests from knocking on the door. One advantage of such times however, is that you can purchase a home below the going rate, simply because foreclosed homes usually sell for a fraction of their original value.

As you probably already know, homes become foreclosed when the owners can no longer afford to pay the loan repayments, and considering that many such homes are virtually still new, you can often find a property which is in immaculate condition. On the other hand, you can also find one which is on the brink of collapse. Irrespective of the condition, the majority of banks and lenders prefer not to hold on to these for any length of time.

Over and above defaulting on loan repayments, there can also be other reasons which result in a foreclosure and while this article won't attempt to list them all, let's just say that you could very well end up getting the deal of a lifetime. Most banks and lenders simply to want to shift these properties as soon as possible, and of course, they have numerous ways of achieving this.

In most cases banks will simply attempt to sell these properties by means of a direct sale, often at a price which is as much as 50% below the original price. Of course, as mentioned, the condition of a property can vary tremendously, so the extremely low price can be either good or bad, depending on what you get. When a property is offered for sale at such a significantly reduced price, it usually indicates that the bank or lender is desperate to sell in order to recover some of their losses.

The second most popular approach is for the bank to put the property up for auction, particularly if their main concern is to get rid of it. Obviously it is possible to pick up a property at an auction for next to nothing, depending on how serious and how keen the bidders are. Here again, you need to bear in mind that while many of the properties which are put up for auction are in pristine condition, others are practically falling apart.

In fact, with regards to the bank or lender, a foreclosed home sold at auction can in some cases end up being a better deal than if it had been sold by means of a direct sale. Regardless of the method by which they're sold, foreclosed homes are becoming increasingly common simply because more and more people are finding it financially impossible to maintain loan repayments. However this shouldn't put you off because in the vast majority of cases, if there are outstanding monthly payments, they are for the most part extremely low. Also, it is not uncommon to find a home which has been foreclosed and which still has all the furniture inside.

While it may not always be easy to win a foreclosed home which is put up for auction, it's usually very easy getting one through a direct sale. Auctions are of course a bit tricky simply because there are also other people out there looking for that bargain of a lifetime. Above all, you need to realize that you simply get whatever's available, so you need to exercise a certain amount of caution before committing yourself. In other words, you should essentially determine whether or not a property is in fact in as good a condition as it looks. Let's face it; you don't want to buy a property thinking it's the best deal, only to find out a few months down the line that you have to spend thousands and thousands of dollars in order to get the place repaired.

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