How do I go about looking at foreclosure homes?
Question:
Answer:
How you view a foreclosure depends on what type of foreclosure it is. Generally, there are two types: Government owned and bank owned. If the property is government owned, any realtor can generally show it to you. Banks may or may not list their properties with a realtor. If they are listed with a realtor, they will always be available in the MLS and are viewable at realtor.com Here is some more info. from my blog:
Bank websites: Bank of America and IndyMac Bank are two of the largest mortgage companies in the US. They both list their REO property on their websites. Some other banks, such as Washington Mutual (The largest mortgage lender in the US) do not post their REO on their site. If you know of other bank REO links, please let me know.
Government websites. The majority of foreclosed homes are returned to the federal government. The agencies insuring homes include HuD, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, VA and USDA. There are links to all of these and more on the HUD website at hud.gov click on buy a hud home and it will take you to a state specific link. VA and Ocwen foreclosures are listed at http://www.ocwen.com/reo/home.cfm... Fannie Mae properties are at http://www.mortgagecontent.net/reosearch...
Traditional sites. Sites such as realtor.com list foreclosures. You can search them yourself by simply limiting the price in the area in which you are looking. Put in a price that is about 20% less than the going rate in your area. Foreclosures will generally say "corporate owned." You may also find some non-foreclosure homes that are a bargain this way.
Public Records: Check your local legal notices at http://www.publicnoticeads.com This is a free search but not all areas are listed. You can check online to see if the county recorder in the area in which you would like to purchase has online access. If they do search for Lis Pendens and you can follow the home through the entire foreclosure process. Search on Deed and put in the name of your local sheriff as grantor and you will get only the houses that have gone to auction.
Banks will have foreclosure listings on properties with their bank loans only. And that will be the small 'hometown' banks, not BOA or Wachovia.
You'll have to go online for Federal foreclosures and the large banks.
http://www.resales.usda.gov for HUD foreclosures.
http://www.foreclosures.com
We just did this with a HUD foreclosure. We went through a real estate agent who specializes in foreclosures. We bought a $65,000 home for $35,000! Now mind you, we have work to do on the home, but when we are finished this $35,000 home will be worth close to $90,000.
Check with the HUD office nearest you and they can send you in the right direction.
Good choice and good luck!!
You can find a real estate agent that specializes in foreclosed or bank owned property. You can also find free lists online (you should not have to pay for this info).
Here is one source: http://www.bankownedassets.com
There are some things to consider when thinking about buying a foreclosed property. People who cannot make their house payments cannot afford to do required maintenance on their homes either. In many cases, foreclosed homes may not be in condition to qualify for financing and you may need to qualify for a specific loan type that allows you to base the value of the home on what it will be after all repairs/upgrades are done. Those loans are available but not from all lenders and from very few, if any at this time, brokers.
Even if the home can be financed it will probably have a great deal of deferred maintenance and may have been intentionally trashed by the vacating previous owner and so require a lot of cosmetic work.
That being said, you won't find a large selection of foreclosed properties in the Portland market. Our local economy is not as depressed as others and our foreclosure rates are much less.
Our local HUD office is located in Seattle. In calling local banks you want to ask about REO (real estate owned) properties.
Good luck.
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