How to Purchase a foreclosure

Have you ever seen an ad in the penny saver or newspaper that says buy a foreclosure for $500. Well it can be true it worked for me.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• pre-approved credit
• a foreclosure agent

1. 
    

   Find a real estate agent that works with foreclosures with this market today there should not be a problem finding one. Once you have found an agent ask if he or she could pull some listings within the area you are looking to call home. You will be surprise how many listings are available.

2. 
    

   The next step would is find a lender to help you get pre-approved most of the time the real estate agent can help find the right lender for you. Keep in mind that the home should be for you and not an investment property. Most loans for foreclosures are only approved if this is going to be your primary home.

3. 
    

   Once you have found the home you have been looking for it is time to bid on it. Your agent should take care of all the bidding process for you. Always remember that the bidding price should always be higher then the asking price. Most likely you are not the only bidder.

4. 
    

   Sometimes the real estate agent will use some of their profit to put towards the higher bidding because if you don't win they don't either. Once you have received the news that you are a new home owner it is time to settle.

5. 
    

   During settlement on most foreclosures the owner pays most of the fees and you pay $500. Another thing to remember is that the property you are purchasing needs some work or sometimes a lot of work so they offer an escrow for a certain amount. So once you show that work is being done present the receipts to your lender and they will give you money back.

Tips & Warnings

• When looking for a home find out why there are so many foreclosures in that area.
• When you looking at foreclosed property you will see that most are damaged by the previous owners.
• craigslist is a great place to look for foreclosures.
• Search yahoo and google for foreclosures or sometimes ebay.
• You will need to get an inspection done at your cost.

[hobartian]

on 10/5/2009 Good information on how to purchase a foreclosure! This is something I am looking at so this is helpful. 5*

[jaredsgirl]

on 9/19/2009 Super tips on purchasing a foreclosure. I'm looking to buy a house in the next 6 months so this is really helpful. Thanks! 5*

[repofinder]

on 9/15/2009 A good place to find an REO property online is http://www.repofinder.com/reofinder. This website has a free list of Bank websites where you can view their foreclosed property sales.

[Mindee94]

on 9/1/2009 Nice step by step detail on how to make this process work. Tip on knowing why several in one area is a crucial one in determining feasibility and all. Thanks! ~Mindee

[sonni57]

on 8/28/2009 Great article on how to buy a foreclosure. Real estate agents come in handy for this.