foreclosure | Imamother

amother

Slategray

Wed, Mar 16 2016, 1:18 am

We are in the process of looking for a house to buy we found something that is a very good size for us an in a. Good location but it is a foreclosure. Does anyone have any experience buying a foreclosure what we should expect and how it works to buy it?
Also the house is a big mess some of the walls are broken and it needs alot of fixing up but we think we can get it for a very good price.any advice on what to expect is appreciated.

amother

Aubergine

Wed, Mar 16 2016, 1:29 am

DH does some work in this legal area so I know a little bit about it.

Foreclosures are tricky. You need to find out who actually owns the property and if it's still in litigation. You also need to find out if there are any liens on the property.

If there is someone still living in the house then it's complicated to evict them. On the other hand, if no one is living there then the house is probably in serious disrepair. You would definitely need to get an architect/engineer to take a look and tell you if the house is structurally sound and what repairs need to be made.

I'm sure there's stuff I'm missing. Make sure you speak to a lawyer who knows what he/she is doing in this regard. And remember that even though the price might be low, you will likely need to invest a lot of money to make the house liveable.

5mom

Wed, Mar 16 2016, 3:17 am

Because ownership is sometimes unclear, and there are likely to be liens for unpaid taxes, the closing process is going to be longer and more expensive than with a standard purchase. Get a good lawyer.

amother

Slategray

Wed, Mar 16 2016, 10:05 am

Thank you for the replies. The house is owned by the bank now and I know it will need alot of fixing up we are bringing in a contractor to figure out how much it would be to fix up. I just want to make sure there won't be any issues coming up that we don't know about.

amother

Burlywood

Wed, Mar 16 2016, 10:28 am

Get a lawyer that has foreclosure expertise. Even though the bank owns it, there have been issues in recent years where the foreclosure procedure was not carried out exactly 100% to the tiniest detail and thus was considered invalid. This caused a big mess for people who had bought improperly foreclosed homes.

amother

Maroon

Wed, Mar 16 2016, 9:22 pm

Buying a short sale or a foreclosure can take a very very long time and a lot of things are really out of your hands and in the hands of the bank - you are at their mercy. There also is less room for negotiation if there are serious issues/defecits with the house. Get a good lawyer with a lot of experience in this area and stay on top of every detail of this.

amother

Maroon

Sun, Mar 27 2016, 8:36 pm

I would really advise you to stay away from a foreclosure property - we just got really messed over buying one. It looks like a good deal but there are so many headaches along the way and they are really no gaurentees it will work out..so many potential problrms.

asp40

Sun, Mar 27 2016, 11:14 pm

We bought a foreclosure that was already bank owned. It was pretty straight forward. Yes, many many repairs were needed some that we knew about and some that were unexpected. And we did have our contractor come and see it and give us estimates.

We could have never afforded this house has it been in good condition. Over time we have fixed the immediate issues and plan to fix the cosmetic ones eventually.

Get a good realtor and lawyer and go from there.

amother

Slategray

Sun, Mar 27 2016, 11:48 pm

Thanks makes me feel a little better. This house is also already bank owned and we would definitely get a good contractor and lawyer. Is there any possibility of the previous owner trying to do something to stop us from buying it or doing something after we buy it?

amother

Wine

Mon, Mar 28 2016, 12:08 pm

My DH has bought foreclosed\short sale properties.
One possible unexpected expense is unpaid utility bills.
Once the water meter on one home had not been checked in "years". when it was finally checked once he was the owner the bill was in the tens of thousands and he was responsible. Plus in the state were he bought the home if water bills are not paid the utility company can also foreclose on the house to get the payment. He was able to settle in the end to cut the price in half, but it was still a huge expense.
Since then he insists all utility meters be checked, his title processor is on top it (he doesn't use a lawyer if possible). He has lost properties because of it - like if bank says you have to close by X date and the utility company doesn't come out by then. Sometimes they can take months. It can end up up being very expensive.