Buying A Home
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Buying a foreclosure!
My fiance and I are looking into buying a foreclosed home in Maryland. We are first time buyers on a low budget so we were thinking that this would be the best way to go. We have rented for many years which I am starting to see its a waste of money and roomates are just not working out. Apartments are out of the question because we have a large dog. We have found some pretty good deals and I am working with my bank (credit union) on my preapproval for a mortgage. Can anyone lend any advice or helpful tips for us? Thanks!!
Re: Buying a foreclosure!
My Valentine Bookends (2~13~13, 2~15~09)
Life and Love at #16 | our married life blog
Cortlandt Place - My house blog
Just so you are aware, often times banks will make repairs on foreclosures even if they state it is "as is." Many posters on this board have successfully negotiated repairs on "as is" properties. Banks don't want to own homes so they often see it as worth it to make the repairs. It never hurts to ask. We ended up getting our entire list.
(We did a conventional 20% down loan).
My Valentine Bookends (2~13~13, 2~15~09)
We are in the same boat as you - first time homebuyers, buying a foreclosure.
We were set to close by 9/22. We were going to RD (USDA) in MN.
The bank-owned home was appraised at 180k and the bank's list price was $139,900 when we looked at it, then dropped the next day to $124,900.
The house is fully custom started in '03 and finished in '06.
The bank refused to pay when we discovered 85% in that the septic failed. They wouldn't consider an upped purc price; they wouldn't go 50/50 with us, they wouldn't let us escrow septic $ to fix to close. So, it's NOT true that banks simply want the listing off its books - a lot of banks have never SEEN the property themselves; they rely on the agent they list it with. So, it's a numbers game to them.
This house is very unique (it's got 3 weird levels with a tower effect in the middle) and so we wanted it. We ended up switching to 203k - which carries a higher interest rate than what we were getting (4.25% to now 4.75%) and there are add'l fees with 203k.
Best Advice: Get pre-approved - FHA wants to see this with earnest $ as does RD if you're not going cash or conventional. Get a good real estate agent who KNOWS bank-owns well and the process very well so he can walk the property with you to tell you if the bank is going to be picky about X, Y and Z...
On many Fannie Mae homes, First Look gives priority to buyers who will owner occupy OVER investors for a certain period of time-so don't be too concerned about investors BUT the house you look at on Mon could very well have an offer accepted by Wed...so if you find something, at least make an offer ...