Different Ways to Buy Foreclosures - you can buy foreclosures a number of different ways. Below are the 3 most common with some perspective on my experience with 30+ years in the real estate business.

Buying directly from the homeowner - You can purchase foreclosures directly from the homeowner prior to it going to sale and back to the bank to be sold as a “Bank Owned” property. I am not a fan of this option for one simple reason. Homeowners are being taken advantage of and deeding their homes over to crooks who promise to bring their mortgage payments current and never do anything. This is the option that all of the late night infomercials are always talking about. It’s unfortunate that when someone is in a difficult situation that these crooks come out of the woods to steal equity away and convince homeowners to deed the property to them. If they really did what they say they will do then great, but it’s too often I hear horror stories about homeowners that were taken advantage of. What typically happens is a number of different things, including renting out the home to collect rent payments for 6-12 months while never make any single mortgage payment. The end result in many of these scams is that homeowners are sold on the idea that they will avoid a foreclosure showing up on their credit. If you have equity in your home then you should try to sell it with a local real estate agent. Your lender will give you some time to sell the property if you show them you are making an effort to sell it.

Buying at a real estate auction - not a big fan! These homes that are being sold at auction are homes that didn’t sell via OPTION 3 of this article. They were listed with local real estate agents as “Bank Owned” homes and as a result of them not selling in a timely manner the bank turns them over to an auction company for sale. Would you go purchase a foreclosure amongst hundreds, if not thousands of other buyers when you could have purchased it a month earlier with no other competition?  Auctions are not my favorite, you are in a room with people that do not take the time to research the property and they are sold on this slogan. “Buy this previous valued home of $450,000 with a starting bid of $275,000!!!” I have news for you, take the time and go to one of these auctions and you will see that by the time it actually sells you really aren’t getting a good deal compared to the foreclosures available for sale in the local MLS.

Buying from a local Realtor - my favorite option maybe because I am a Realtor! :) No, it’s because it makes the most sense. You find a local real estate agent who specializes in selling bank owned real estate. I would recommend that you do a Google search for “bank owned real estate for sale CITY NAME” and you should come up with some options. Buying from a local real estate company will allow you time to do your inspections on the home you are buying; you will get a clear title with title insurance. If you purchase your home listed with a real estate company that is “Bank Owned” you do not have to worry about the title history because you will be provided with a title insurance policy when you close escrow. You will have typically a 30 day escrow which will allow you to purchase with financing.

Other things to understand about buying foreclosures - One big misconception is that you deal directly with the bank. Let me tell you that it doesn’t happen. Banks don’t sell real estate. They find local real estate agents who know the local market and pay them a commission to get the property sold. Don’t waste your time trying to work out a great deal directly with the bank or insist that your low offer at 50% of the listing price should be considered. Banks want to sell these foreclosures but they are not stupid.

Things to do after you purchase a foreclosure property - Get the locks changed as quickly as possible, many banks use the same key cut for all of their listings because they have so many vendors to deal with they have the locksmith re-key all of their foreclosures with the same cut key. You should really invest $100 to have your new home re-keyed.

If you would like any San Diego Foreclosure Information please feel free to contact us.

As all of you have heard the real estate markets are struggling in many areas of San Diego. This is due primarily to the other hot topic in the news: Sub-Prime Lending. Unfortunately many homeowners in the last few years have fallen victim to the frenzy in the lending market that encouraged homeowners to buy or refi using a loan that starts with a low rate and then, at the end of its initial two year period, begins adjusting. During the first five years of this frenzy rates were low and it didn’t matter when the loan reached that first adjustment. Today we are in a different Interest Rate market and many borrowers are finding that first adjustment is causing their payments to be out of their reach. This in turn is the reason why we are hearing so much about Foreclosures. It is unfortunate for many that are losing their homes, however the reality is that this also creates opportunity for many investors.

As many of you know I have spent years managing and disposing of foreclosed properties for banks and lenders. The number of available foreclosed homes is growing and the prices are dropping. During the last 7 years, many of you would call me and ask about buying a foreclosure and I would tell you that it was very rare to find a foreclosure in this market because there were so many buyers for every home that came on the market. This has changed and we now have growing lists of condos and single family homes.

Remember, as with any investment, the time to buy is when the market is Down and Sell when the market is up. You may remember the early 90’s when we saw a record decline in real estate prices in San Diego. Many of you also took advantage of that market and purchased property that we sold 5 years later at double and even triple what you paid for. While no one can predict the future, we can make decisions based on what we have seen in previous markets. We are heading into another similar market as the 90’s and if you have an interest in investing in this market this is the time to do it!

Real Estate California

With the sub-prime mortgage market taking a hit like it has in the early part of 2007, we have seen a large increase of distressed property. Major real estate markets have been effected. San Diego has seen some significant changes but not as bad as many other markets.

When you look at data in the San Diego area, the property that is selling is being sold at a fair market price. We are not seeing the fire sale we saw just a few months ago when your home would sell before you could put up a for sale sign. With mortgage rates increasing, allowing fewer people to afford to purchase and driving the demand down, it indirectly effects the family’s that have purchased a home thinking that they would be able to refinance into a lower payment after a few years. The increase in interest rates has increased the amount of property’s that will go into default.

REO property is the end result of a person loosing their home and the home going back to the bank to be sold. It becomes an REO property which stands for Real Estate Owned and now becomes the banks top priority to sell. Banks do not want to be in the real estate business and do not want to take back a property but unfortunately when all other avenues are exhausted the end result is foreclosure and the bank takes back the property so they can sell it.

REO property can be a great investment for investors and regular individuals looking to buy a home. It can also be a more complicated process to purchase a REO home but working with a experienced Real Estate Agent can help make the process fairly simple.

If you think that you may want to purchase REO or bank owned property and you are not sure where to start. Please call us today to discuss. We have a experienced team that works with many banks REO departments all over the country and we can help you find something depending on what your needs are. We have all of the San Diego Foreclosure Information you will need if you are looking to purchase foreclosures in San Diego County.

Carlos Aguilar

What is the first step to buying a home?

Finding out what you can afford is one of the fist steps, which can be done by pre-qualifying for a home loan. This step will help you narrow your search for both a neighborhood and particular houses.

A pre-qualification is a simple calculation that considers several factors, but primarily your income. There are no guarantees with a prequalificaiton, but it will be expected of you when you make an offer on a home.

Carlos Aguilar
858-793-2336
carlos@teamaguilar.com
San Diego Real Estate News

source of article,
http://www.teamaguilar.com/home-buying-articles-4-29.html