Buying a home for own use or as an investment is to be handled carefully, as the investment of money whether from own resources or by borrowing from outside is fairly sizeable.
For fresh investors or first-time home buyers, proper planning is required in identifying their needs and budgeting the finance, seeking appropriate consultancy, choosing the best choice for funding and executing the action perfectly in time are the pre-requisites.
For any type of home-buyers, foreclosed homes offer the best option among others, as there is huge savings in cost if approached properly. The buyer should select a buying agent specializing in foreclosure properties (there are a number of them available locally) and act only in consultation with the agent, explaining all their requirements in home buying very clearly.
The foreclosure process has three stages – (1) between issue of default notice to the home-owner and the final foreclosure auction there is the grace period of at least 90days; this is the pre-foreclosure period (2) public auction for selling the property takes place on a specified date and finishing the sale transaction; this is actual foreclosure and (3) if the property is not sold on the date of auction, the mortgage lender gets re-possession of property; this is post-foreclosure.
All the foreclosure properties in any of the three stages as above are completely listed in foreclosure listings, locally and nationally.
The home-buyer should collect these details by searching the websites to make the selection of the intended property that fits the needs. Of all the three, purchase of property in pre-foreclosure stage is highly profitable and hassle free, because it offers direct dealing with the concerned property owner, who is in distress and ready to accept a decent bargain to get rid of the foreclosure and a remark in his credit report. A thorough inspection of the property is also possible to give leverage on negotiation. From the best bargain, a lot of savings in closing price is enabled.
At the foreclosure auction, though a stiff competition will be there, the right amount of bidding can get the property at a reasonable discount of 30 to 40% from the fair value. Services of the buying agent and his advices play a vital role in dealing at this stage.
The third stage where the property is re-possessed by the lender, usually a Bank or Government agency also offers best discounts because the holding cost of the property lying idle will be running high and the lender will be most interested in seeing real money by disposing the property. Approaching the lender with all the relevant details and the exact offer showing readiness to buy the property quickly will do the trick.
Buying foreclosure homes are worth the efforts put in by saving thousands of dollars.
