Mayra Dube
Vision Real Estate

Are you looking into buyers foreclosures? Well here is some information for you to learn what it is exactly what you would be getting into.

I have personally bought 3 foreclosures and can say without a doubt it is a bargain if you can get it. Now for the scary side - it cost money to fix it.

Foreclosures are bank owned. The banks are not Realtors, they are not landlords and they are not property managers! They just hold the note. Most banks use Realtors to sell off their properties that they have on the books. They do not want to be owners. That is not the way the bank makes money. They want the property off the books as quickly as possible. That is why you can get a property at a bargain price.

The price reflects condition - This goes without saying. Buying a property in foreclosure can be a risky deal - you must have the stomach for it, not to metion the nose! Some properties are stripped of copper, plumbing, fixtures and sometimes even sheetrock! If the former owners had pets ,you can best believe that they let the pet do and "GO" where they want. Some former owners "GO" where they want as well. The smell can be stiffeling.  You might have to totally rehab the property from top to bottom. Some homes you won't need to do that. Some just need minor cosmetics. Done right a property can increase value in a matter of weeks - depending on how fast you can rehab the property.

Some properties need complete clean outs as well. The former owners sometimes leave behind some furniture, clothes and general junk. My last flip took 1 large dumpster of trash. That was just the clean out, not the rehab. That was another dumpster.

Some foreclosures you see are "Auctions" the banks choose this route to expedite the selling of the property. You have to put a certain amount of deposit, it you are the winning bid you have 30 days to get a mortgage. No if ands or buts, if you do not obtain a mortgage you loose the deposit. Now you must remember  - to get a mortgage an appraiser has to enter, the insurance needs to know if it is curcuit breakers or fuses, and you need to know how the mechanicals are. This gets tricky when there are people still living there. Yes, the bank can do that. Here is the dilema.... If you are the winning bidder, most often you can't get into the house so you don't know the condition, the former owners are there, your going to have to evict, that could take upto 6 months, in the meantime you are paying the mortgage, they are living free and more than likely destroying the home.

Foreclosures are scary, you need the money to purchase and the money to fix the property, the curent bank will not finance this.

Now for the good news, there are foreclosures that are vacant, you do not need to worry about former owners. Real Estate agents have access to foreclosures that are listed. Almost every town has foreclosures, just ask any realtor, there are loans out there that will do rehab properties. I can help locate the loan that would suit your needs. If you are handy you can save hundreds of dollars doing it yourself. You MUST HAVE THE TIME to deal with a property like this, so make sure you realy want to get into a property like that.

If you want current lisitings in curtain towns please feel free to contact me, send me your email, town you want and how much you want to pay, how much work you want to do to the property. Let me do the rest.

See my other page for items and pricing ideas as to what it would take to fix a foreclosure.