Foreclosure Question ...Lock on the door.?
Question:
THANKS!
Answer:
The long lock you are trying to describe is considered a lockbox in real estate terms. If there is a real estate sign outside the house then it is available to buy. Just because it is in foreclosure does not mean that the bank is wanting to take it into their inventory. The lender has enough homes I'm sure and they really don't want the house, just the money owed to them.
The lender is asking the real estate company to sell the house and get the best offer they can. The person who is going through the foreclosure will still owe the difference between the loan and what the house actually sells for. The persons credit will be affected as well.
When a house goes into foreclosure, mortgage companies hire property preservation specialists to secure the home. Because these companies are, by necessity, local, there is no way to determine what each company will do. The type of security you describe certainly sounds more like what a property preservation company would do than that which a mortgagor would.
If the house is in foreclosure, the mortgagor can still sell it up until the date of the sheriff sale. The mortgage company will work with the mortgagor to get the property sold to a third party as that is in everyone's best interest.
What you are probably seeing around the doorknob is called a key-safe. It does not lock the house but a key to unlock the house is kept inside it and someone with the proper stuff can get the key out to show the house.
A lot of these key-safes are electronic now days but the early ones were combination locks, and some were master keyed and such.
When a place is foreclosed they normally put a lock on it so the previous owners can not get into it. My friend had a business that foreclosed on them and they didn't have their stuff out yet so they lost a bunch of their belongings and weren't allowed back in to get them.
Most banks list a foreclosed house for sale with a Realtor. So, if the bank foreclosed then they are probably trying to sell the house. The big lock thing you are talking about is probably a real estate lock box. Realtors use this to store a key so any Realtor can show the house. Go to www.realtor.com or the real estate companies website and you should be able to find a listing on the property. If the listing says, "being sold as-is" or "proof of funds required" then it's being sold by the bank. All foreclosures are sold as-is and a lot of banks require proof of funds before they'll even consider an offer. Also, if it's a foreclosure they will put a sticker on the door or window but I can't remember what the sticker says.
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