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How to find foreclosed homes?

ViviTheMage

ViviTheMage

Lifer
So, we're looking for a house ... what are some reliable sites (paid or free), that can list foreclosed homes?

We can get either an FHA/conventional loan, have about 20k saved up for the deposit, and other odd repairs if they need it that bad.

So what site is legit? I seem to find a lot of scammy looking ones... also, what is the normal procedure to close on a foreclosed home? Contact the bank? Contact a realtor?
 
Zillow and Realtor has then listed.

Many are bank listed so they try to sell in groups so you have to be a big buyer to see those. Many are not for sale yet as the banks are holding due to hopes it will improve or just for being stupid.
 
Most foreclosed properties have been grosely neglected and abused by previous owners.

I suggest you find a normal house. Foreclosed homes are a risk that's not worth taking.

Remember, home inspector cannot look past the sheetrock or at the actual structure/what's hidden (assuming you even can find a decent inspector).

Also if you do go with foreclosed home, I hope you are a "do it yourselfer" and have PLENTY of money for repairs etc.

Mandatory home buyers questions:
a) Do you have 20% down payment (20k seems a bit low depending on the area you are in)?
b) do you have 6-9 month emergency fund?

Even with a none foreclosed home that's been cared for there is costs that are expected. With Foreclosed home, those costs are THAT much more.

Remember, there is no "deals" out there. No ONE will give something away or take a loss.

You will get exactly what you pay for.
 
Realtors should be able to guide you.

Banks would only have their own properties.

Also, public legal records will show what has been foreclosed based on municipality.
 
interesting, thanks.

I have been seeing foreclosures around 50-150k, depending on what is in there still, haha. I just never thought zillow was accurate with the pricing though, but it does list the bank buyback price.
 
When I was looking for houses I used everything I could find:

Craigslist
Realtor.com
Zillow
Trulia

I looked at the websites for major real estate agencies, I looked at bank websites, everying.
 
does realtor generate them like zillow does? basically taking edinarealty/sbburnet/etc's listing and just putting them in their own?
 
ViviTheMage said:
craiglist is horrible for houses I have found, almost impossible to search...and lots of crap listings to other listings.
Click to expand...

Without question it's the most difficult site to find good houses on, but I think its worth the time. If you go back to it every couple of days, you'll quickly sift through all the crap listing.

It's how I found my investment property

/shrug.
 
Blackjack200 said:
Without question it's the most difficult site to find good houses on, but I think its worth the time. If you go back to it every couple of days, you'll quickly sift through all the crap listing.

It's how I found my investment property

/shrug.
Click to expand...

I don't doubt there are deals to be had on there...I have sifted through it a few times, but it's difficult!
 
We just bought a house. That process (thank fucking god) is finally over. We went through a realtor, but in reality, we were finding the houses and telling her we wanted to see them.

Let me just say that the market is already back. In freaking December, just before Xmas, we were getting out outbid on houses that were on the market for 12 HOURS. We would even offer the ASKING PRICE. Granted this is in northern VA, which is a hot real estate market.

Edit: redfin (by far the most), zillow & trulia. 🙂

public records for fun.
 
Vdubchaos said:
Most foreclosed properties have been grosely neglected and abused by previous owners.

I suggest you find a normal house. Foreclosed homes are a risk that's not worth taking.

Remember, home inspector cannot look past the sheetrock or at the actual structure/what's hidden (assuming you even can find a decent inspector).

Also if you do go with foreclosed home, I hope you are a "do it yourselfer" and have PLENTY of money for repairs etc.

Mandatory home buyers questions:
a) Do you have 20% down payment (20k seems a bit low depending on the area you are in)?
b) do you have 6-9 month emergency fund?

Even with a none foreclosed home that's been cared for there is costs that are expected. With Foreclosed home, those costs are THAT much more.

Remember, there is no "deals" out there. No ONE will give something away or take a loss.

You will get exactly what you pay for.
Click to expand...


You have ZERO FUCKING clue what you are talking about. Foreclosed homes are RIDICULOUSLY under-priced. It is a HUGE investment market right now.

Banks own said foreclosed homes. Banks do not run a business of fixing up houses. Hence - banks must get rid of homes. YOU COMPREHENDE?
 
Just use realtor.com and look for all houses in the area. Do very loose seach criteria so you get to see everything. Foreclosures will be mixed in. But it shouldn't matter. Just find one you like at the price you like. Then call your agent or the seller agent to go see it. Do not use your agent to find them. I would have missed out on many awesome deals because they are so lame. They do super tight searches and always try to talk you up on the more expensive house and suggest to high of offers just to close the deal. There could literally be the exact same house on the same street, one for a third the cost but she won't show you the lower one because she didn't do a search in that lower price range.

The good thing about foreclosures though is that the bank will lower the price every month or so that it doesn't sell. So you can find a few you like and keep an eye on them and wait it out. Some will sell some may not. But the price will keep dropping.

As soon as one lowers the price you like wait a week or so. If it had no offers right off the bat at the lowered price go in and low ball. Banks will reject anything that is below 20% less. So come in a little over that. Which is a huge savings still.

The bank will Automatically counter at about any price offer (above 20%). Expect this and don't give in. A lot of times they will counter at full price or even only like $1000 lower. They are making it look like they don't want to play ball. Come in with an offer that is a little higher than your last lowball offer. I did this before and only offered like $1000 more than my lowball and they took it after they had first countered with almost full price.

By the way this is a bad time to buy. The prices went up a lot because the banks are holding houses back. The government has made interest rates insanely low and easy to get too. Eventually they will have to release them all and the interest rates can't stay that low. Then the crap is going to hit the fan again.
 
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The prices around here seem to be pretty good....probably still lingering 30-40% lower then they were back in 08-09, so we still want to hop on one if we can find one, especially a foreclosure that hasn't been to neglected.

I just wish there was an easy place to look for foreclosures!
 
A realtor, we saw lots of houses that looked good in price but we didnt want to consider because they were bank owned. The one thing we didnt want was to be in homebuying limbo which is easy when dealing with a foreclosure.
 
s0me0nesmind1 said:
You have ZERO FUCKING clue what you are talking about. Foreclosed homes are RIDICULOUSLY under-priced. It is a HUGE investment market right now.

Banks own said foreclosed homes. Banks do not run a business of fixing up houses. Hence - banks must get rid of homes. YOU COMPREHENDE?
Click to expand...

Mot foreclosed homes are not in pristine condition.

A $150K home may easily need $50K worth of work due to neglect/destruction of the previous owner.

A person losing their home to the bank is not going to be in a generous mood; they will take with them as much as they can; figuring that it is still theirs.

The bank will know what the property should be worth and have a decent estimate on what it will take to get it back to that value.

In my example; they are not going to dump that home on the market for $50K
They will want close to $100K
 
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