Buying A Home
GreenEyedGal
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Why would someone NOT want a foreclosure?
DH and I are house shopping and we've come across a few foreclosures that have caught our eye. Can someone fill me in on why we wouldn't want one? In other words, do you guys know something about them that we don't?
TTC#1=Feb 2009: 50 mg Clomid+Ovidrel shot+Metformin+Dexamethasone+TI=BFP!
TTC#2=July 2011: Surprise BFP: Chemical Pregnancy
TTC#2=July 2011: Surprise BFP: Chemical Pregnancy
Re: Why would someone NOT want a foreclosure?
met DH 1995 ~ married DH 2006 ~ completed our family 2008
Life is good!
Foreclosures are like any other home. Some people take care of their homes and some do not. One thing I have learned over the years is that people vary drastically in their standards of "clean" and "up keep." It is really shocking how some people live!
We toured several foreclosures (and short sales) and most were comparable to family owned homes in terms of needing repair/remodeling--but the prices were significantly lower. The one we ultimately purchased has a yard that has been neglected, but other than that, it just needed a good cleaning of all the cabinets (as would many homes that have been lived in). It had new carpet, fresh paint and was move in ready.
You want to treat it just as you would a family-owned home. Get an inspection, negotiate with the bank for repairs (ours fixed all of our requests and included a multi-year warranty that we have already enjoyed using for a couple of things--but honestly, they were due to age and not neglect). Use your best judgement and you could really get a great deal on a home!
My Valentine Bookends (2~13~13, 2~15~09)
I've definitely noticed that most foreclosures are bit rough-looking and was wondering if that was the only "catch" to them.
TTC#2=July 2011: Surprise BFP: Chemical Pregnancy
A higher precentage are treated like crap.
But the big issue for us is the headache involved in the buying process. We didn't want to have to go through that whole process unless wee 100% loved the house.
It has nothing to do with condition for me and everything to do with the months and months and months it takes to close one. I do not have that kind of patience.
Read back through a few pages of posts. You'll see the unbelievable hassles that come with distressed sales.
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Thinking of doing cosmetic updates to a dated home? These were our costs.
Our foreclosure closed in less than 30 days and we have had 3 friends purchase foreclosures in the last 6 months and they all closed quickly too. Now, I am not talking about foreclosures bought on the "courthouse steps." These were are all REO foreclosures.
Now short sales are a totally different matter!
My Valentine Bookends (2~13~13, 2~15~09)
A lot of foreclosures have not been well taken care of, but we have bought foreclosures that are new houses and others that are mint or move-in ready. We have also bought some that need lots of renovations.
Most foreclosures take the same amount of time to close (30-60 days) as regular sales. Short sales on the other hand can take months and months to close.
Here are some of the reasons we avoided foreclosures:
1) There are fewer legal protections for buyer. No disclosures nor legal requirement for disclosures.
2) The last people left unhappy and angry and may have done damage you won't see until later.
3) The house often sat empty for a while leading to problems of neglect like animal and insect pests.
We bought a foreclosure, and had no headaches/problems whatsoever. It's not our first home, and the process of buying it was just like it was for our previous home, actually MINUS some headaches - the bank makes logical decisions, doesn't base anything on emotion, and it all just boils down to money. I think buying a foreclosure is much easier than a short sale (my cousin just bought a short sale home and had a hard time).
We did buy a foreclosrue. It is nice, no damages, just a lawn full of weeds that we can't seem to overcome.
We saw many that were out-of-this-world crazy. Toilets, kitchen cupboards, all interior doors, flooring, literally even the kitchen sink ripped up and gone!!!! A/c units, wiring taken - insane. We knew they weren't all like that, but let me tell you, there were a lot of messed up foreclosures.
I don't think we actually saw any that had been purposely damaged irreparably, like a sledgehammer through drywall or an upstairs bath made to overflow and run over and destroy the walls/create major mold issues.
I understand the stigma if people are thinking of these extreme cases of damage or stripping. Even then, there's nothing wrong with buying the house, it's just a lot of work.
We looked at 1 foreclosure and from the outside it looked nice until you got inside. It had been vacant for nearly a year.
Also alot of foreclosures (at least in this area) are sold AS IS. If you ask for repairs prior to closing they often will not get done.
We bought a short sale a few years ago, not a foreclosure, but they are kind of similar. It did not take months and months and months. It actually only took about 5-6 weeks from offer to close. We did buy it as-is, but we had an inspection and there wasn't anything that was broken. The house was as clean as it could be considering it had sat vacant for several months and was in great shape.
However, a lot of the foreclosures and short sales we saw were in terrible condition, and some of them can take a really, really long time to close. Ours was quick because it had already been through most of the process with a previous buyer, but then the buyer got sick of waiting and backed out.