Foreclosures, REO’s, Bank Note Purchase, are these the investment opportunities for you?

Buying a foreclosed home 101

by Matthew Le Baron | February 19, 2010

The basics of Foreclosure purchasing according to this author focus on using your local agent and going directly to the bank, but is that truly the only way. We realize that in today’s markets most of the inventory posted in online REO and pre-foreclosure note real estate auction websites are directly from the bank or mortgage holder, so you might find this of interest, but it is a little misrepresentative of the facts.

Don’t bother browsing through the legal filings in your local paper or showing up to courthouse auctions—there is too much risk and most banks will not sell at auction for less than the amount currently owed against it. Instead, contact myself or another Realtor at Trust Realty that can provide a list of homes for sale that are bank owned. Also, you can go directly to www.TrustIdaho.com to search specifically for bank owned property being offered at rock bottom prices.

It’s makes more sense to purchase homes that are being sold directly through the bank since a buyer purchasing homes at foreclosure auctions must have cash on hand at the time of the sale and typically hasn’t had an opportunity to inspect the home appropriately. Also, many homes sold at auction may have additional liens such as a home equity line of credit or a second mortgage that may have fallen under the cracks. If that is the case then the buyer of the auctioned home is responsible for clearing the lien(s).

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